Losses
by sisana
Summary: What would happen if Kagome died? He would run away. What would happen if Inuyasha died? She would run away. They both felt and needed love but none of them admitted it. R & R, please!
1. Chapter One

Kagome's head slowly came out of the well and she looked around.

'I hope he hadn't noticed I was gone...' she thought but just then she saw him.

Inuyasha was sitting under a nearby tree. The tree's shadow was making it difficult to see him clearly and Kagome prepared for the yelling that she was sure was coming. Well, she was wrong. Inuyasha didn't move from his position and the girl slowly, trying not to make any noise, exited the well. She silently crept toward him.

'You're not the only one who can startle people when they're asleep.' Kagome thought smirking as she approached the hanyou.

When she was close enough to see him clearly she saw he was asleep. But by the looks of it the dream he was having wasn't a good one. He was clutching at Tetsusaiga and was making odd growling sounds, some of them sounding more like a whimper.

Kagome quickly went to him and kneeled in front of him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him gently. He just clutched at his sword more tightly.

"Inuyasha, wake up." Kagome shook him again, this time harder.

"No..." he mumbled. "...couldn't...save her..."

"Inuyasha, please..." Kagome said louder than the last time and shook him even harder.

Suddenly Inuyasha's eyes shot open and his head snapped up hitting the tree trunk. He groaned and whimpered. He held his hands on the back of his head doubling over. Tetsusaiga fell on the ground, on his left. Kagome, who had pulled away when he awoke, now came back to him and tried to move his hands away from his head.

"Inuyasha, calm down." she said.

"Damn, it hurts..." the hanyou said through gritted teeth.

"Let me see." the girl pulled his hands away and ran her fingers through his hair to see if there was a wound.

"Don't touch it!" Inuyasha yelled and pulled away only to hit his head in the tree trunk again.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome tried to hold him but lost her balance and fell over him.

This time he only growled in frustration and sat up rubbing his head. "I hate that tree." he said and turned for a moment to glare at it. Suddenly he heard Kagome clear her throat. When he looked at her he saw he was holding her really tightly with his free right arm.

"Inuyasha, you can let me go now." Kagome said, a slight redness creeping on her cheeks.

Instead of complying the hanyou stiffened and his eyes widened in pure horror. His lips parted and he took a sharp breath. Kagome looked at him confused and when he just stood there she started to get worried.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" she asked looking in his eyes.

When he still stood there without moving or saying anything Kagome reached with her left hand to touch his cheek. But when her hand came in contact with him he suddenly released her and growled. He looked around for Tetsusaiga and finding it stood up ready to leave.

"Sit." Kagome said. She knew that there was something seriously wrong with Inuyasha.

'And when we talk about Inuyasha – he'd prefer to fight with Naraku than admit anything at all.' she thought. 'So, I'll have to make him talk.'

"What did you do that for, wench?" Inuyasha yelled at Kagome when he was finally able to stand up.

She sat more comfortably on the grass and looked at him. He wanted to leave but knew he'd just get sat again, so he sat in front of her crossing his legs and arms. Kagome raised a brow as if waiting for something.

"What?" Inuyasha snapped.

"Did you have to call me that way?" she asked serious.

He just 'humph'ed and looked away. Kagome sighed and shook her head. They stood silent for a while. Inuyasha knew she was going to ask him about his dream and was desperately trying to find a way to avoid it. Kagome, on the other hand, had a problem of finding the words to ask him.

'I just sat him and now I'm going to ask him if he's ok?' she asked herself sarcastically. 'It'll look stupid.'

"Hey, Inuyasha, I'm sorry." she said and he 'feh'ed still looking away. "But that was the only way to stop you from going away..."

"And why did you want me to stay?" Inuyasha looked at her angry. "I thought you'd want to get rid of me knowing I'd be mad of you for leaving without warning."

"Why are you talking like that?" Kagome looked at him with hurt in her eyes. "I... You were having that bad dream and I was worried."

"Don't be the next time." Inuyasha said and stood up heading toward the village. "Are you coming or not?" he asked after seeing that she wasn't following.

"Yes." Kagome sighed and stood up.

TBC


	2. Chapter Two

Once they entered the hut Inuyasha went to the back of it and sat down without saying a word. The others were there too and were preparing for dinner. They weren't surprised that Inuyasha was mad, but usually he'd be yelling and being sat. Kagome came to her friends and sat by the fire.

"Kagome-sama, I know that Inuyasha won't tell us..." Miroku raised his voice purposely but the hanyou just 'humph'ed. "Is there something wrong with him?" the monk turned to Kagome.

"He's just mad at me." she sighed.

"Are you sure?" Sango asked. "He usually isn't like that when you two fight..."

"Hey!" Inuyasha finally had enough of them. "I'm in the room, you know. It'd be easier if you ask me."

"Ok." Shippo came closer to him. "What's wrong, Inuyasha?"

"Nothing." he muttered.

"See?" the kitsune went back to the others. "You won't tell us."

"Guys, let's not bother him." Kagome suggested. "I'm sure if there really is something wrong, he'd tell us. Right, Inuyasha?"

"Sure." he said and closed his eyes leaning his back to the wall.

A few minutes later the dinner was ready and Kaede gave each one of the group a bowl of warm soup. Since Inuyasha didn't make any sign of noticing that they were eating his friends thought he was sleeping and decided not to wake him up. After all, it wasn't very often when Inuyasha slept.

'Fucking nightmares.' the hanyou cursed in his mind. 'The moment I fall asleep they come. And I was just getting used to that one with Kikyou... But I just can't bare seeing Kagome die...' As soon as he thought that he was asleep.

It was around midnight. The hut was silent – everybody were sleeping. Kagome slowly opened her eyes and stretched. She sat up and looked around. Her eyes went right on Inuyasha. He was curled in a small ball on the floor and was hugging Tetsusaiga tightly.

'That's an unusual way to sleep, Inuyasha.' Kagome thought with worry. She silently crawled to him. His hair had fallen across his face and was hiding him from the girl's eyes. She carefully moved the strands of hair away from his face. 'Oh, no... Another nightmare.' she thought when she saw the frown on his face and the beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Inuyasha, wake up." Kagome whispered placing a hand on his shoulder. He just mumbled something incomprehensible and remained asleep. Kagome shook him harder and called his name right in his ear.

Suddenly he pushed her aside and turned around with a groan. Kagome fell on her butt and watched him violently move his head to the sides. Just when she was about to go to him he woke up and sat up. He held his right hand on his chest, panting, and supported himself with his left hand.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered and he turned toward her.

"Kagome..." he said after he could breathe normally.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" the girl asked and moved closer to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said and stood up. He felt a little dizzy and almost fell back on the floor but managed to steady himself.

"Where are you going?" Kagome also stood up and went to him to help him but he pushed her hand away.

"I don't need your help." the hanyou snapped and headed toward the door. Kagome followed him.

"Inuyasha, come back here." she hissed at him. "You're going to wake up the others."

"Will you leave me alone just for once?" he asked turning to her.

Kagome looked at him stunned and didn't know what to say. Then Inuyasha turned away and exited the hut. The girl remained on her place and just stared at the door.

'Why is he acting that way? Why isn't he telling me what's wrong? Doesn't he trust me?' she asked herself and then she seemed to decide something. 'I don't care what will happen. I'll make him talk.' with that she exited the hut and ran to the direction she could see his white hair.

Entering the forest she lost him. She walked slowly looking at every tree she passed by. Finally she spotted him. He was leaning to a big, old tree and just when Kagome was going to call him he hit the tree trunk with his left hand and growled.

"This wasn't supposed to be a nightmare! That were all good memories!" he said and then he smelled her. "What are you doing here?" he turned toward Kagome. She tried to say something but he stepped toward her and continued talking. "How many times do I have to tell you not to come out during the night? You're always causing trouble."

Listening to his cold voice Kagome's determination disappeared. She felt tears in her eyes and let them come out hoping to make Inuyasha stop talking to her with that voice. But that didn't work. It was like he didn't care anymore about her tears.

"Why are you talking to me like that?" she asked like the first time she woke him up from a nightmare.

He didn't say anything and just looked at her eyes. For the first time in her life she was afraid of him. Even the first time she met him and he tried to kill her she wasn't that scared. But now, the emotionless and cold look he was giving her made her shiver. She made step back.

"Where do you think you're going?" he growled at her.

Kagome looked him one last time and ran away. She headed right toward the well. Inuyasha followed her and when she jumped in, he went to the well. He looked inside and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. I had to make you go home." he said. "I keep having those dreams and visions... It's like when Naraku tried to kill Kikyou. I'm afraid that something bad is going to happen." Inuyasha sighed again and sat by the well. He closed his eyes and for the first time in weeks he slept peacefully, knowing that Kagome was safe in her time.

TBC


	3. Chapter Three

"Higurashi." the teacher said.

The girl didn't pay attention and continued staring at her notebook.

"Higurashi, answer the question." the teacher came to her desk and placed a hand on the notebook.

"Yes..." the startled girl looked at the older man. He looked at her questioningly. "Excuse me..." Kagome cried and ran outside.

The teacher and her classmates were shocked. Some of them exchanged confused looks, shrugged, but didn't say anything. Then everybody's eyes turned to the teacher.

"Does anybody know what's wrong with her?" he asked.

"Maybe she's sick again." Ayumi suggested.

"Maybe..." the teacher said mostly to himself and then looked at Ayumi. "Gather Higurashi's things and when you find her, take her home."

"Ok." the girl smiled.

She searched the entire school and finally found Kagome sitting under a tree in the back yard. It seemed that she was crying. Ayumi sighed in relief she had found her and headed toward her friend.

"Kagome-chan, are you alright?" Ayumi crouched in front of the other girl.

Kagome had hugged her legs close to her chest and rested her head on her knees. She lifted her head to look at her friend and hiccupped.

"Ayumi-chan, what are you doing here?" she asked and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I came to see if you're ok." the girl smiled.

"I'm fine." Kagome whispered and looked away. "I may be sick again."

"Oh, come on, Kagome-chan." Ayumi placed a hand under her friend's chin and turned her head toward her. "I know you too well. It's something else, isn't it?"

Kagome stayed silent, only more tears ran down her cheeks. 'How can I tell her? Will she understand?' she thought.

"You know you can tell me anything." Ayumi placed her other hand on her friend's shoulder.

'It's all about trust, isn't it?' Kagome thought and sighed.

"I'm your friend. I would never let you down." Ayumi said and Kagome's eyes widened in realizing how stupid she is for pushing away one of her best friends. A friend, that has always been there for her, no matter what. "Trust me."

"It's all because of him." Kagome cried and the other girl hugged her.

"What did he do this time?" Ayumi asked, a little calmer knowing that it wasn't something serious. At least she thought so. After all she didn't know all the details.

"Nothing." the other girl cried. "I just can't take it anymore. I thought it would be enough to just stay with him but... It hurts... He'll never forget her."

"Calm down, Kagome-chan." Ayumi stroke her hair trying to comfort her, but failing.

"He doesn't tell me anything anymore. I feel I'm loosing him. He's slipping away." Kagome hiccupped. "What should I do?"

"Tell him how you feel." Ayumi pushed her slightly away.

"And then what? It doesn't matter if he knows or not. His head is full of her!" Kagome almost screamed. 'He even has nightmares about her...' she continued thinking.

"He can't be so in love with her." Ayumi said. "Think of something she can't give him but you can. Maybe then he'll see you... like her."

'Like her...' Kagome thought. 'I don't want Inuyasha to see me like Kikyou.'

"Thank you, Ayumi-chan." Kagome wiped her tears and tried to smile. Her only wish now was to be alone.

"That's better." the other girl smiled too and helped her friend stand up. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

"No, Ayumi-chan, I want to be alone for a while. I need to think." Kagome said and took her bag from her friend.

"Ok, but you won't say I didn't send you home. I don't want extra math classes." Ayumi smiled and Kagome nodded this time smiling for real.

When the girls parted Kagome walked slowly home. She needed time to think and with her annoying brother that was almost impossible. When she reached the stairs to her family shrine she sat down on the second step and rested her head on her hands, and her hands on her knees.

'What can I give him?' she asked herself. 'All I can give him is my love but he doesn't need it. He has Kikyou's...'

After some time her face brightened and she stood up. "That's it!" she smiled ran up the stairs. 'I hope it works...' she thought and entered her house.

TBC


	4. Chapter Four

Kagome was just entering the house when her mother called her on the phone. The girl took off her shoes and ran to the living room.

"It's Ayumi." Mrs. Higurashi said and gave her daughter the receiver.

"Hello..." Kagome said.

"Kagome-chan, hi!" Ayumi said sounding happy. "I just wanted to be sure you got home."

"Thanks for worrying, Ayumi-chan." Kagome smiled too.

"I was thinking..." the other girl started.

"What?" Kagome asked a little uneasy.

"Since tomorrow is Saturday, I was thinking if we could go to the park." Ayumi mumbled.

"To the park?" Kagome wasn't sure why her friend was so nervous.

"You see, there's a friend of mine who invited me... and I was thinking if you could come with me..." Ayumi managed to say, her nervousness increasing.

"So, you're on a date tomorrow?" Kagome smiled. "Why do you want me to come?"

"You see..." Ayumi started and Kagome could hear the cable of the receiver being twisted. "I've never been on a date before..."

"Is that so?" Kagome mocked her friend.

"Kagome-chan, it's not funny!" Ayumi almost screamed.

"Don't worry, Ayumi-chan, I'll come." Kagome said.

"Thank you so much!" the other girl said happy. "I'll come pick you at 6, ok?"

"Ok." Kagome said.

"Bye." Ayumi said and the girls hung up the phone.

'Oh, I wish Inuyasha could ask me out...' Kagome thought sadly while gong to the stairs. 'But he doesn't even know what a date is.' that last thought made her smile.

"Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi called from the kitchen. "Dinner is ready."

"I'm not hungry, Mama." the girl called back. "I'm going to bed."

"Ok, good night." Mrs. Higurashi said and Kagome continued up the stairs and in her room.

She left her bag on the desk and lied on her bed. She closed her eyes and suddenly a vision of Inuyasha pinned to the God Tree startled her and she sat up.

"What was that?" she asked herself and stood up.

'I guess I'm over exhausted...' she thought and went to her wardrobe from where she took her pajamas and clean underwear. 'I need a hot...' she yawned. '...bath...'

Kagome relaxed in the bath-tub and closed her eyes. She was just drifting off to sleep when another vision of Inuyasha appeared. He was laughing and Kagome thought how good he looked when he was smiling.

'Wait a minute...' she sat up in the tub. 'Why am I remembering those things? I must be really tired...' she lied back down.

When she went to bed she had another vision of Inuyasha. This time he was being stabbed by Sesshoumaru. Kagome shivered all over remembering how close to death the hanyou was that time.

"I'll have to talk to Kaede-baachan about those visions..." she mumbled and slowly drifted off to peaceful sleep.

It was morning in Feudal Japan. A certain hanyou was walking through the forest. The village was visible in front of him. A strange group of people was approaching him – a monk, a demon exterminator, a cat demon and a kitsune. They were hurrying toward the hanyou.

"Inuyasha!" the angry kitsune yelled at him. "Where have you been? Where is Kagome?"

"I sent her home." the hanyou answered and passed them by.

"You did what?" the monk was shocked.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" the demon exterminator asked concerned. "You've been acting strange for days. Why don't you tell us?"

Inuyasha gave out an annoyed sigh and continued walking. He knew he was going to tell them, he was tired of keeping everything to himself. He even regretted for not telling Kagome – after all, for him she was the only one who could fully understand him. The others smiled knowing they had won and followed him.

A few minutes later the group was in Kaede's hut. They were sitting around the fire, waiting for breakfast. The old Miko was out to see a sick villager. Inuyasha was silent and the others were getting nervous.

"Inuyasha..." Miroku started.

"You remember when Naraku almost killed Kikyou, right?" the hanyou asked and the others nodded. "Before she fell in that river of shouki I had some strange visions of her. And now... now I have the same visions about Kagome, and nightmares..."

"So, that's why you sent her home." Sang said mostly to herself.

"Yes." Inuyasha nodded. "I'm afraid something bad is going to happen and I don't want her near."

"Did the nightmares and visions stop?" Miroku asked.

"Yes, the moment she went through the well they stopped." the hanyou nodded again. "I just hope she doesn't return until everything is over."

"Whatever it is..." Shippo said quiet.

Kagome was running up the stairs to her family shrine. The sun was setting and she was obviously in a hurry. She got to her house, opened the door and yelled to no one in particular that she was going to the past. Then she looked at herself for a moment and shook her head 'No time...' She was wearing a short light blue summer dress with thin shoulder straps.

'That Ayumi! I'm late because of her!' Kagome growled in her mind. 'I will never go out with her!'

With that the girl jumped in the well. On the other side Inuyasha was in the hut with his friends when he suddenly caught her scent. He growled and stood up.

"I knew I had to take that shard from her..." he said and ran out.

The others just shook their heads. They didn't follow him knowing that he had things to clear with Kagome and they didn't have place there.

TBC


	5. Chapter Five

Kagome knew perfectly well that Inuyasha must've smelled her the moment she came out of the well and didn't bother going to the village. She sat on the edge of the well and waited. She had thought every possible outcome. Actually they could be only two – either Inuyasha would reject her, or accept her.

The hanyou ran through the forest cursing in his mind his stupidity. He felt like a real idiot. He knew Kagome would never give up and definitely come back, and he still didn't take her jewel shard. Finally he agreed with himself that he wanted her back and nothing else mattered. He had decided – whatever happened he would protect her and make sure she stays safe.

Kagome was startled by a rustle in the trees and then a lightning fast blur of red and white landed in front of her. She screamed and almost fell in the well, but the 'blur' caught her and steadied her.

"Inuyasha..." she panted holding her left hand on her chest and her right on the edge of the well. "You scared me..."

"Kagome..." he was too happy to see her, but as always he wasn't the type to admit something like that, and he just lost his words. He couldn't believe how much he missed her.

"Inuyasha, I thought a lot..." the girl started. She made a step toward him and pushed him a little back. He didn't know what she was going to do and the only thing he could think of was that she was going to sit him.

'That's right...' he thought sadly. 'I deserve it... I acted like a total jerk...' he made another step back.

'Here it goes, Inuyasha...' Kagome thought. 'Yes or no...'

She took a deep breath and Inuyasha panicked. He braced himself for his meeting with the hard ground and closed his eyes tightly. Nothing happened and he just didn't know what to expect anymore, so his eyes remained closed. Then he heard her voice.

"Inuyasha..." she said and he opened his eyes and what he saw made him feel dizzy.

Kagome had pulled her dress down to her waist. Two tears ran down her cheeks and dropped on her naked chest. Inuyasha stood stunned for a minute and then slowly approached her. She looked at him confused and surprised when he pulled her dress up.

'I knew it...' Kagome thought and bent her head down.

Although she tried her best not to cry she failed. She wanted to run away from him but couldn't. He body shook from her heartbreaking sobs, and they were really such. Inuyasha couldn't watch her like this. He pulled her in his strong embrace and held her tight.

"Inuyasha..." she cried in his haori.

"God, Kagome... What were you thinking?" he asked but didn't really expect any answer.

"I... I thought..." she stammered. "I thought you didn't need me anymore... I wanted to stay with you no matter what... I wanted to give you something that Kikyou can't..."

If he could Inuyasha would fight himself for making Kagome think such things. 'It's all my fault...' he thought and stroked her hair.

He wanted to tell her something, anything, to make her feel better. But he just didn't know what. Of course, there was something he'd wanted to tell her for a long time, but this wasn't the time for it. There were too many unfinished things for him.

"I'm sorry..." Kagome took him out of his thoughts. "I'll go home and... I won't..."

"Shh, Kagome..." Inuyasha interrupted her. "Don't talk like that... And stop crying, please..."

"Why?" she cried more and buried her face in his haori.

"I love your smile, that's why." Inuyasha didn't even think what he was saying. He pushed her slightly away and looked her in the eyes. "I was wrong, I was an idiot, and I don't want you to go away. I'm sorry..."

Kagome looked him with surprise and stayed still for a moment. Then out of nowhere she cried his name and wrapped her arms around his chest. He smiled and hugged her back.

"I'll take you home now." he whispered and she shook her head. "Don't worry, I'll stay with you... You'll get some good sleep, calm down and tomorrow we'll come back here. Ok?" this time she nodded. "Besides I have to tell you something very important."

Inuyasha took her in his arms and jumped in the well. He took her in her room and placed her on the bed, under the covers. He then sat next to the bed and rested his head on his hands, his hands on the bed.

"Are you angry?" Kagome whispered.

"No!" Inuyasha frowned. "Why should I be?"

Kagome sighed and closed her eyes. "Why were you acting like that then?" she asked not opening them.

"Well, it's because that important thing I wanted to tell you..." he started and she looked at him. "Those nightmares I've been having lately... and visions... They're all about you."

"About me?" Kagome blushed a little and seeing this Inuyasha's face reddened a little too. "I thought they were about Kikyou..."

"Now that's the problem." the hanyou said and the girl looked at him confused. "When Naraku tried to kill Kikyou I had some visions about my life with her... I think something bad is going to happen. That's why I didn't want you with me."

"I need to tell you something too." Kagome said and lifted herself a little. "I've been having such visions too."

"Really?" Inuyasha lifted himself and she nodded. "Well, that doesn't sound good." he scratched the top of his head but then shrugged and returned to his previous, comfortable, position. "We'll think about that tomorrow, when we go back."

Kagome sighed and lied back down. Inuyasha had closed his eyes and she smiled at him.

"Good night, Kagome." he startled her.

"G-Good night, Inuyasha." she stammered a little and saw him smirk. She hit him on the shoulder. "You're impossible!"

TBC


	6. Chapter Six

Kagome woke up early in the morning from odd snoring sounds. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed them to clean her view. She saw Inuyasha still sleeping. His head was on the bed, rested on his arms. One of his arms was pressed to his throat and it was making him hard to breathe.

Kagome smiled and sat up. She carefully lifted his head and moved his hand away from his throat. He stopped snoring and shifted into a comfortable position. Kagome looked at her watch – it was 5:30 am.

'Too early.' she thought and lied back down.

She tried to fall asleep but couldn't. She kept her eyes on Inuyasha. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him smile in his sleep.

'I wonder what he's dreaming about...or who...' she thought and sighed deeply.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha mumbled answering her thoughts and her eyes widened even more from before.

'Well, he sure is full of surprises.' the girl thought when she was calm again and smiled. She continued watching him and the smile never left his lips.

It was 7:30 in the morning and Kagome decided it was time to wake up Inuyasha. As she was lying on her right side she reached with her left hand to his head and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Inuyasha..." she whispered and repeated the previous motion.

"Mmmm..." he leaned into her touch causing her hand to go to one of his ears.

"Inuyasha, wake up." she said a little louder and rubbed his ear.

At this the hanyou's eyes shot open and he sat up startling Kagome. She quickly pulled her hand away from him and brought it to her chest.

"Kagome..." he breathed out looking at her.

"I'm s-sorry..." she stammered. "...I-I startled you..."

"No, no! It wasn't you." he said rubbing his forehead.

"Another bad dream?" Kagome asked and moved closer to him, still clutching at her covers in front of her chest.

"Yeah." he said. "It started as a good one, though."

"I know." Kagome said and he looked at her questioningly. "You were smiling... and you said my name..."

"Is that so..." Inuyasha turned his head to the side to hide his red face. Kagome did the same thing for the same reason.

"Um, Inuyasha, I'm going to take a shower and then we're going back, ok?" Kagome broke the uncomfortable silence between them.

"Ok." Inuyasha nodded.

Once he was alone he stood up and sat on the bed. 'This is going insane!' he thought and stood up again. He walked to the other side of the room, then returned back to the bed and sat on it. 'Me and Kagome... on that bed...' he immediately stood up and backed away to the door. 'Her mother caught us... This wasn't one of _those_ dreams... This was my sick imagination!'

He stood still for a moment, then his eyes widened as he found his explanation. 'No, it's Kagome's fault! If she hadn't...' remembering her naked chest his whole body trembled and he ran out of the room. Passing by the bathroom door, he shouted to Kagome he was going out, and went to the well to wait her there.

When Kagome was ready she took her small yellow bag, filled only with Ramen, and went to the well. Inuyasha was waiting her in front of the small shrine. Kagome was surprised to see him smile when he saw her, but he quickly caught himself and pulled on his usual expression.

"Are you ready?" he asked the girl in front of him.

"Yes." she smiled at him despite his angry face – she knew perfectly well he was faking it.

"What's in the bag?" the hanyou looked over her shoulder and sniffed, his face immediately brightening. "Ramen!"

"It's not only for you." Kagome turned him toward the door of the shrine and pushed him inside.

"We'll see that." he smirked.

Inuyasha jumped first in the well and Kagome followed him. Once on the other side Kagome released the breath she was holding. The hanyou in front of her rolled his eyes and went to her to pick her in his arms.

"I won't take your shard, Kagome." he said and jumped out of the well.

"I know." she said after he let her go. "Let's go."

The two walked toward the village in silence for a while. Suddenly Inuyasha put his right arm around Kagome's shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She was surprised at first but then relaxed and rested her head on his shoulder, putting her arms around his waist.

"You can be really sweet when you want to." she whispered. "Thank you."

Inuyasha just squeezed her shoulders a little and they continued walking. When they approached Kaede's hut Kagome tried to move away from Inuyasha, thinking he wouldn't want the others to see them like that. He gave her a warning growl and held her in place. They reached the hut and he released her so she could enter first. Inside, the others were still asleep. Kagome looked at Inuyasha and saw him smirking.

"Inuyasha..." she started but it was too late.

"Get up, idiots!" the hanyou yelled, startling everyone.

They all bolted up and Inuyasha started laughing. Kagome looked him angry and he bit his lip, already knowing what was coming.

"Sit." the girl said and the hanyou hit the floor.

'She finally got her temper back.' he thought and smiled to himself, although on the outside he was cursing like mad and threatening to eat her.

Once everybody were calm they told Kagome that they knew about Inuyasha's dreams and visions. Kagome also told them she has started having visions too.

"This doesn't sound good." Miroku said thoughtfully.

"You tell me." the hanyou grumbled and rubbed his right ear making a rather pained expression.

"Is something wrong, Inuyasha?" Kaede asked concerned.

"That annoying sound is making my ears hurt." he answered and rubbed his left ear.

"What sound?" Shippo asked. "I don't hear anything."

"That's not possible." Inuyasha said. "It feels like it's digging into my head. And it's getting louder..."

The others exchanged concerned looks and every one of them shook their heads letting the other know they weren't hearing anything. Kagome moved closer to Inuyasha and placed her hands on his, which were on his ears. He tried to move away, mumbling something, but Kagome pulled him to her.

"Calm down, Inuyasha." she said. "We don't hear anything. Let me see your ears."

He slowly leaned down and released his ears. Kagome and Kaede examined them carefully but there was nothing wrong with them. Suddenly Inuyasha jerked away from them and gritted his teeth trying to hold himself from crying out in pain, as the sound grew louder. He put his hands on his ears again.

Kagome quickly went to him and placed her hands on his again, pulling his head to her chest. Inuyasha removed his hands from his ears and put them on Kagome's.

"Stop that fucking noise!" the hanyou growled

Kagome looked at the others. "What are we going to do?"

Sesshoumaru was walking through a forest with Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un not far behind him. Suddenly he stopped.

"What is it, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken asked when he reached his master.

"That sound." the dog demon said.

"Sound? What sound?" Jaken asked confused.

'He can't hear it.' Sesshoumaru thought. 'It's coming from that village Inuyasha usually stays.'

"Sesshoumaru-sama, why are we stopping?" Rin's cheerful voice took him out of his thoughts and he turned to the green demon behind him.

"Jaken, you and Rin stay here and wait for my return." the dog demon said, and not waiting for an answer, flew away.

TBC


	7. Chapter Seven

Sesshoumaru was walking through a forest. It was getting dark but he didn't seem to want to stop for the night. Suddenly he stumbled a little, without any visible reason, and supported himself with his hand to a tree. He took a few deep breaths and continued walking, wobbling at first.

'I haven't heard that sound in 80 years... I'm not so close to that village, and I'm feeling so bad already? Since the source of the sound seems to be there, I can't even imagine how my brother is doing...' the dog demon thought. At this moment this was the only thing that could make him feel better – the thought that his brother was suffering more than him. The sharp and loud sound was getting even louder the more he approached the village.

Not too far behind him were walking three dark figures. The two smaller ones were on the bigger one's back. They'd been following Sesshoumaru the whole day and it seemed that they weren't going to quit. Thankfully the bigger creature was quiet enough to compensate the other two's constant moving and whispering.

"I don't like that, Rin." Jaken's words made the girl frown.

"Me too, Jaken-sama. Good that we followed Sesshoumaru-sama." the girl whispered and leaned toward one of the creature's heads to whisper something to him. Ah-Un immediately slowed its peace.

'When I think about it, the time when I wanted him to suffer and die is long over...' the dog demon's thoughts trailed off as he caught three familiar scents. He frowned but that was making his head hurt more and he tried to relax. 'With or without them, it's all the same to me. I can't really trust Jaken to protect Rin while I'm away, and on the other hand she is always in danger when she's with me.'

Sesshoumaru continued walking without making any sign to have noticed them and they were happy. This one time they thought they had outsmarted the great Sesshoumaru-sama. Well, at least Jaken thought so. Rin was too worried about the dog demon to think about such things.

In Kaede's village every man had been 'mobilized' to search for the source of the sound that was torturing Inuyasha. Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippo were out too. They had searched the whole day but had no luck. Only Kaede had remained in the hut with Kagome and Inuyasha. The sun was slowly setting when the old Miko entered the hut.

"How is he, child?" she asked.

"He's calm now. But he doesn't say anything anymore." Kagome answered. She was sitting in the back of the hit. Inuyasha was curled on the ground with his head rested in Kagome's lap. She was holding his ears and was massaging them from time to time. His hands were on hers and she could feel them trembling. The only sound that could be heard from him was a soft constant growling and a quiet whimpering from time to time.

At first the sound in his ears was hurting Inuyasha but he soon got used to it and even went out to search for the source. But the more time passed the more the sound got stronger and sharper. Finally he couldn't hold on and returned to the hut. He didn't want to admit he was feeling bad, but as if to make him, the sound suddenly grew louder and almost knocked him unconscious. There was nobody in the hut at that time and if Kagome hadn't returned Inuyasha had thought it was the end of him.

It was dark outside and the men from the village had returned to their homes. Miroku entered the hut, followed by Sango, Shippo and Kirara. Kagome made them a sign to be quiet and they sat around the fire.

"So?" the girl whispered.

"We didn't find anything." Miroku whispered back.

"Tomorrow morning we'll continue. But let's hope it stops by then." Sango whispered too and the others nodded.

During the evening nobody dared to talk, afraid that they might hurt Inuyasha. Kagome even didn't eat, not wanting to release Inuyasha's ears. "When will be the next time I touch them?" she joked quietly.

The others went to bed but Kagome stayed by the hanyou. They quickly fell asleep, tired of the long day. 'I wonder what's going on... All those visions and dreams, now this sound...' she thought, her look on Inuyasha's face. 'It's not a coincidence, I'm sure. We have to find the source of that sound.'

Suddenly Inuyasha trembled all over and whimpered. He gripped Kagome's hands tighter and pressed himself closer to her. Startled she tried to push him away to see him better but he just gripped tighter and leaned into her more. He wasn't growling anymore, he was only whimpering, and his body trembled more and more.

"Guys..." Kagome said and the others stirred. "Guys, wake up..."

"What is it, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked sleepily.

"Something's not right with Inuyasha..." Kagome said with shaky voice – she was barely holding her tears, she just couldn't watch Inuyasha suffer like that.

The others immediately went to her and looked concerned at the hanyou's trembling body. Miroku and Sango tried to move him away from Kagome but he just wouldn't let go of her.

"Oh, my God... Oh, my God!" Kagome was panicking with every minute.

"Calm down, child." Kaede said but that didn't seem to work as tears ran down the girl's cheeks.

"There's... There's..." Kagome couldn't continue as blood streamed down her fingers and Inuyasha's hands. "Blood..."

The others tried desperately to move the hanyou away from her. They asked her if the blood was hers or his but she was so in panic that she just continued crying. Suddenly Inuyasha's body convulsed one last time and he relaxed. His hands loosened their grip and Miroku and Sango were finally able to move him away from Kagome. When they turned him on his back on the ground they saw that the blood was from his ears.

Kagome was hiccupping and shaking all over. Sango went to her and hugged her to calm her down. Kaede and Miroku carefully cleared the blood from Inuyasha's ears and examined them.

"It seems he's unconscious now." Kaede said.

"It's better that way." Miroku sighed and looked at the two girls.

"Kagome-chan, calm down. Inuyasha's ok. He's just unconscious." Sango said stroking the other girl's hair.

"We have to do something fast." Miroku stated. "If it things continue like that Inuyasha might..."

"I think I have an idea." Kaede interrupted the monk. "But I'll need your jewel shard, Kagome, and your help, Houshi-dono."

As Sesshoumaru was walking thorough the forest he suddenly flinched and supported himself with his hand on a tree, again. This time he didn't continue and sat on the ground, under the tree. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, breathing heavy.

'My brother must've died by now... if he's in the village...' the dog demon thought. '...he must be there since the sound is coming from there...'

"Sesshoumaru-sama isn't looking good at all." Rin whispered. She, Jaken and Ah-Un were hiding behind some bushes not far away from Sesshoumaru.

"I've never seen him like this..." Jaken said.

'I have.' Rin thought and remembered the first time she met him. 'But he was hurt then. He looked good before he left us, and we followed him all the way...'

"Jaken-sama, do you think we should go to him?" the girl asked.

"No!" the green demon almost screamed. He then lowered his tone. "Sesshoumaru-sama is going to kill me! I'm practically leading you into danger."

'I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up.' the dog demon thought and Jaken shivered all over, as if he had heard him. 'At this speed I'll be at the village tomorrow evening...'

TBC


	8. Chapter Eight

The whole village was silent and dark. There was light only in one small hut, near the village shrine. Inside were our friends. Inuyasha was lying next to the fire. Kagome was kneeled by his left side, Kaede at his head and Miroku at his legs. Sango, Shippo and Kirara were sitting aside and only watching.

"Here's the shard." Kagome said and handed the small peace of the Shikon no Tama to the old Miko.

"Thank you, child." Kaede said and placed it between two of the beads from Inuyasha's rosary.

"Kaede-sama, what exactly are we going to do?" Miroku asked after the old woman took her previous position.

"It is simple." she started. "I will activate the shard's powers, you will create a barrier around Inuyasha, and then I'll connect the shard with the barrier..."

"Sounds good." Miroku said. "That way we should be able to isolate Inuyasha from the sound."

"But there's one more thing." Kaede said and looked at Kagome.

"What is it?" the girl asked worried.

"The shard might get tainted." the old Miko said calmly. Kagome wanted to say something but Kaede continued. "Inuyasha's human heart is good enough to keep the shard pure, but he also has a dark demon side. I can't say which side will become stronger with the shard. So we need your purifying powers, Kagome."

"We'll have to connect Kagome-sama and the shard, right?" Miroku asked and Kaede nodded.

"Do you agree with that, child?" the old woman asked and everybody looked at the girl.

"Of course I agree." Kagome nodded firmly.

"Alright, let's start then..." Kaede said.

The old Miko and Miroku brought their hands in front of their faces, in praying position. Kaede started chanting something and after a few seconds the shard on Inuyasha's rosary started shining with pink light. Then Kaede stopped and Miroku started chanting. Around the hanyou appeared a blue barrier. Suddenly Kagome started to feel strangely light, her vision blurred and she thought she was going to fall asleep any minute.

Sango, Shippo and Kirara watched their friends with concern. The cat demon and the kitsune were in Sango's lap. Shippo didn't know why but he was afraid. He snuggled closer into Sango and continued watching his friends. The demon exterminator frowned when she saw the dizziness that seemed to have engulfed Kagome.

Soon a bright pink aura appeared around Kagome. She felt like something was pulled out of her and her vision started to turn back to normal. She could see the aura around her being pulled toward Inuyasha and it started to surround him. The beads of the rosary started glowing and the shard turned into one of them. The barrier and the aura started to become more transparent until they couldn't be seen anymore.

Kaede and Miroku opened their eyes and looked at Kagome. She was staring at Inuyasha and looked like hypnotized. Miroku looked at the old Miko worried and she went closer to Kagome. Sango looked questioningly at the monk and he shrugged and shook his head, showing her that he didn't know what was going on.

"Kagome," Kaede shook the girl's right shoulder. At the sudden movement she snapped out of her trance and looked at the woman at her side with a blank look. "Kagome, are you alright?"

The girl stared for a while and finally seemed to come to herself as her eyes moved around to take in her surroundings. "Y-Yes... Yes, I'm fine..." she said and even gave Kaede a small smile.

"Thank God..." the old woman sighed and relaxed.

"Did we make it?" Kagome asked looking first at Miroku, then at Kaede.

"Kaede-sama..." the monk turned to the woman.

"We did everything right." the old Miko said. "We'll see if it works when he wakes up. Now we need some rest, especially you, Kagome."

As if to prove her right Kagome yawned and smiling she nodded. Everybody lied on their futons and very soon they were in dreamland. Kagome wanted to be the first to see Inuyasha when he wakes up, but although she tried not to fall asleep, she failed.

It was morning and Sesshoumaru was again walking through the forest. His three companions were following him not too far behind. The more he approached the village the more the sound dug into his head and made him feel highly irritated. He surely wasn't the type to admit that it wasn't only irritating but it also hurt like hell. He wouldn't even admit it to himself.

"Jaken-sama, do you know where we're going?" Rin whispered.

"I'm not sure but I think we're headed toward Inuyasha's village." the green demon answered.

"I wonder why..." the girl said mostly to herself.

"It's something to do with that sound." Jaken said. "That Inuyasha... It's his fault, I'm sure!"

'I'm not...' Sesshoumaru thought. 'It is because of my brother, I can say that, but it's not his fault.' he continued walking, listening to what the two behind him were talking.

"Jaken-sama, you've been with Sesshoumaru-sama for a long time." Rin whispered to the green demon in front of her. "Have anything like this happened before?"

"I don't think so." he answered. "But, you know, he doesn't talk too much and leaves us whenever he wants."

The girl sighed heavily and didn't say anything else. Jaken remained silent too. Rin felt tears of worry and frustration well up in her eyes but she wasn't going to let them come out. Worry for Sesshoumaru and frustration because she couldn't do anything to help him. She was angry too. She was sure the dog demon knew they were fallowing him but he still didn't show it, he didn't even get angry at Jaken. 'Things are really serious.' she thought.

'You couldn't have seen me like this, Jaken.' Sesshoumaru thought. 'The last demon who could make this sound died 80 years ago.'

The dog demon walked during the whole day. Knowing that he was ignoring them Rin didn't pay attention to the volume of her voice and wasn't whispering anymore. At first Jaken tried to make her to be quieter but she refused to listen. He now knew that his master was pretending that he hadn't noticed them, but didn't want to make him mad with being noisy.

They were very close to the village. It could be seen in the distance. Sesshoumaru wasn't looking good. He felt like he was going to pass out any moment. And he was sure Inuyasha must be dead by now – if that sound could affect a great demon like him like that, a hanyou surely had no chance. But there was another thing that concerned him – if the sound hadn't stopped yet, that meat that his brother was still alive. So, that was another reason to reach the village faster.

Like he had thought he was going to be at the village by evening. He stopped on a hill to look around. There, in the distance, beyond the village, was a huge explosion and suddenly Sesshoumaru doubled over, his hand on his right ear. Rin and Jaken could see blood starting to run down from his left ear. They immediately rushed to him to help him.

'If this doesn't kill him...' were the last thoughts of Sesshoumaru before he lost consciousness.

TBC


	9. Chapter Nine

"Kagome-chan, wake up." Sango shook the sleeping girl, but got no response. "Kagome-chan..." she shook her harder.

"Wha..." Kagome opened her eyes and yawned. "Sango-chan, is it morning already?" she slowly sat up and stretched.

"Yes, it's morning." the demon exterminator answered. "Are you hungry?"

"No..." Kagome said and looked at Inuyasha. She sighed sadly, seeing that he hasn't woken up, yet. "He's still unconscious..."

"Yeah..." Sango sighed.

"Where are the others?" Kagome asked.

"Shippo and Houshi-sama are fishing at the river and Kaede-sama went to see a sick villager." Sango explained and helped Kagome pack her sleeping bag. "Listen, Kagome-chan, Houshi-sama said it'd be better if we don't tell Inuyasha about what we did to save him. You know how he is."

Kagome looked at her friend a little confused but then nodded. "You're right, Sango-chan, he'd freak out if he understands that someone else is protecting him."

"I didn't mean it like that..." the other girl started but decided not to continue, for some reason.

As the two girls were packing they heard a quiet moan and immediately turned to Inuyasha. He, still asleep, rubbed his nose and turned to his right side. The girls rushed to him, seeing that he was going to fall into the small fire. They caught him and pushed him on his back. This, however, startled him and he woke up.

"What the hell..." he mumbled and the next thing he knew was that Kagome was hugging him. "Kagome..."

"Oh, God, Inuyasha! I'm so glad you're ok..." she held him tighter.

The confused hanyou looked at Sango and she made him a sign to hug back. Inuyasha did as he was told and Kagome relaxed in his arms. After a few seconds she pulled away and looked at him, smiling. He scratched one of his ears and suddenly remembered about...

"That sound!" he exclaimed. "I don't hear it anymore!"

"You don't hear it? Really?" Sango pretended to be surprised.

"Yes!" the hanyou nodded. "What happened? Did you find the source?"

"No, Inuyasha." Kagome answered and avoided looking him in the eyes.

Just then Miroku, Shippo and Kaede entered the hut. They talked about how Inuyasha felt and if he really wasn't hearing the sound anymore. Although it had stopped, the others managed to make the hanyou to search for the source. One could do miracles with Inuyasha if using his dignity!

As they were exiting the hut Kagome suddenly felt dizzy. She stumbled and almost fell on the floor. Inuyasha caught her and steadied her. She heard him ask her if she was alright but somehow it felt difficult to talk. Inuyasha shook her a little and she suddenly snapped to reality.

"Inuyasha..." she said, still dazed a little.

"Kagome, what happened? Are you ok?" the hanyou asked, obviously worried.

"Yes, Inuyasha, I'm ok." she answered.

"I suggest you stay here and rest, child." Kaede came to her to feel her forehead. "No fever..."

"The old hag's right." Inuyasha said and let the girl go, turning toward the door.

"No, I want to go." Kagome protested and held his right hand's sleeve to turn him to her. Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off. "Do you want me to say it?"

The hanyou quickly shook his head but then decided he looked stupid, giving up so easy. "Feh. Do what you want. But when you start whining about being tired I'm not..."

"Oh, just shut up and go." Kagome pushed him out of the hut.

"Where to, Inuyasha?" Sango asked when they were out.

The hanyou looked around and started sniffing the air. He thought he caught an unfamiliar scent but it quickly disappeared. 'At least I know the direction now.' he thought.

"It's this way." he pointed toward the forest and motioned for Kagome to climb on his back. Once they were ready, they ran in the pointed direction.

"Are you sure we're on the right track, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked from Kirara's back.

"That was the only new scent around here." the hanyou answered and stopped at a small clearing. He sniffed the air again but this time he didn't smell anything unfamiliar. He then put Kagome down and started to sniff at the ground.

It was early afternoon and Inuyasha was still sniffing around. At least he wasn't at the same clearing. The others were fallowing him without saying even a word. The more time passed the more irritated Inuyasha became and soon his own low growling was the only thing that could be heard. Suddenly he stopped and stood up. The others looked at him confused and the next thing they knew was Inuyasha running ahead of everyone.

"Inuyasha, wait for us!" Kagome yelled after him.

Kirara quickly transformed and Sango and Kagome climbed on her back. Miroku and Shippo ran along side the cat demon. Inuyasha was too fast for them to run side by side, but at least they hadn't lost him, yet. After some running the hanyou stopped at a large field. The others stopped behind him and he made them a sign to stay there.

Inuyasha made a few steps forward and suddenly the earth started shaking. The ground under his feet opened and he barely avoided being caught by a long black vine. He jumped back to the others and then from the ground came out a big black monster. It didn't have a head on its shoulders, but on its chest. Long sharp teeth could be seen in the head's opened mouth. Its eyes were blood red. Instead of fingers on its arms the monster had five long vines. His whole body was cowered in some kind of sticky substance.

"Ew!" Kagome stepped back. "Disgusting!"

"What is this thing?" Inuyasha turned to Sango.

"I have no idea." she said. "I've never seen something like this!"

Inuyasha growled and drew Tetsusaiga out. He prepared to attack but the monster suddenly spoke.

"Inuyasha, why aren't you dead?" the creature asked in a loud rough voice. "How are you even able to move?"

"You were the source of that fucking sound, weren't you?" the hanyou growled at the ugly monster and held his sword ready. "You're gonna pay for making fun of me like that!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled behind him and he turned half way to look at her. "It has five shards!"

"What?" the others couldn't believe their ears. A demon like this would be a real big problem than they first thought.

"Who gave you the shards?" Inuyasha shouted. "Oh, fuck you. Of course it's Naraku..." he jumped toward the demon and slashed with his sword.

Before he could make the Kaze no Kizu the demon caught him with his left hand's vines and threw him at the ground. A small crater formed under the hanyou's body. Seeing that, the others prepared to fight. Sango threw her Hiraikotsu just when the demon was lifting Inuyasha and cut the vines. The hanyou fell back on the ground and Kirara flew to him. He climbed on her back and she took him to Kagome.

"Inuyasha, are you ok?" she asked.

He dusted himself and stood up. He looked at Kagome and saw that her face was too pale and she was barely standing on her feet.

"Kagome, are you alright?" he asked her and held his arms on her shoulders.

"Yes, yes..." she said and thought of an excuse which would fool Inuyasha. "That demon is just too disgusting..."

"Feh. Stupid girl." Inuyasha said, obviously calmer about her. "Just stay out of the fight then."

"Inuyasha, a little help here!" Miroku yelled as a vine caught his leg and was about to lift him in the air.

Inuyasha leaped toward the monk and cut off the vine. Sango saved them both from another few with her Hiraikotsu and they all ran a safe distance away from the monster. Kagome was a few meters aside, with Kirara and Shippo.

"You two," Inuyasha turned to the monk and the demon exterminator. "What's wrong with her? Tell me now. She looks like something's draining her energy."

"Inuyasha..." Miroku started with the intention to tell him everything but Sango cut him off.

"Can we talk about that later?" she asked impatiently. "We have a demon..."

"Now I see why you're still alive, hanyou." the monster laughed and that caught Inuyasha's attention.

"What do you mean?" he asked and made a step forward.

"There's a barrier around you." the demon started. "You have a jewel shard too."

"No I don't..." Inuyasha said but from Kagome's surprised gasp after the monster's words he knew he had.

"That girl is keeping the barrier from shattering." the demon snarled. "Let's see if she can hold on after that!"

As soon the demon had finished talking, his mouth opened wide and a strong pulse went through everybody. Kagome shrieked and held her head. Inuyasha turned toward her and ran to her. Just when he was about to reach her the barrier around him became visible and shattered. Only the aura around him remained. The sound returned in Inuyasha's ears but not loud enough to affect him the way it did before. He was already by Kagome's side and caught her as she started falling.

"Kagome, Kagome..." Inuyasha shook her gently. She whimpered and pulled him closer, holding the front of his haori. "Why didn't you tell me?" he stood up with her in his arms and brought her to Miroku and Sango.

"Inuyasha, we..." Miroku started.

"Keep her safe." the hanyou said, not looking at them. "I'll deal with you later..."

"I almost got rid of that stupid barrier of yours." the demon laughed as Inuyasha charged at him. "I'll give it another try..."

The same strong pulse went through everybody again and the aura around Inuyasha disappeared. He turned to Kagome but she was calm and the others were standing strangely still. Inuyasha ran to her and saw that she was becoming slightly transparent.

"What the..." he pushed Sango and Miroku away and kneeled next to the girl. "Kagome... What is happening to her?"

"You drained her energy and now she'll die." the demon laughed yet again.

"No..." Inuyasha shook her. "Kagome, wake up... Kagome!"

She opened her eyes and her body started glowing. She smiled at him and then turned into many small lights which quickly faded away. The others just looked shocked. Inuyasha looked at his shaking hands and saw red.

"Kagome..." his voice sounded somehow rough and the others immediately knew what was happening. The Shikon jewel on his rosary started glowing and turned to its original form. The claws on his fingers grew longer and he growled. "You are going to pay..." he stood up and turned toward the demon, a red aura starting to surround him.

"I made you angry..." the demon said indifferently, knowing that the real fight was about to begin.

Inuyasha stepped forward. His eyes were still normal but the gold was starting to turn green, his claws and fangs were longer, and there were purple marks on his cheeks. He raised Tetsusaiga in font of him and attacked. The demon sent a stronger sound wave than before, hoping to affect Inuyasha. But the hanyou just continued running toward the demon. It met the attack with its vines, which caused a huge explosion, and dust and smoke surrounded them.

TBC


	10. Chapter Ten

A few smaller explosions followed the first huge one. The dust and smoke from them wasn't allowing Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara to see what was happening with Inuyasha and the demon. They wanted to go in the fight and help their friend but just didn't know where they would find themselves. So, they just stood on their places, ready to attack.

Soon enough a loud growl was heard and Inuyasha was thrown out of the smoke. He slid on the ground, crouched, his right hand holding a bloody Tetsusaiga and his left hand digging in the ground in order to stop himself. When he stopped he immediately jumped back in the battle. Making the Kaze no Kizu he cleared the dust and smoke and the monster's arms fell on the ground.

"Damn you!" the demon snarled at Inuyasha and opened his mouth wide to send a new sound wave.

It seemed that Inuyasha was alright but then the others saw blood run down from his ears. Without saying a word the hanyou growled and jumped toward the monster. It was left shocked that Inuyasha wasn't affected by the sound and made a step back. It wanted to hide itself with its arms but they were gone.

Instead of attacking with his sword Inuyasha used his Sankontessou. He hit the demon's face and from three of the gashes on its forehead fell three Shikon shards. If the demon wasn't injured so badly it would've been the best opportunity to attack Inuyasha. It seemed that that last hit and the sound had exhausted the hanyou too much. He fell on his knees before the monster and breathed hard.

"You are lucky today, hanyou..." the demon said and made a step back. "When I return you will die." with that the monster turned and ran deep into the forest.

Inuyasha stayed on his knees. The others exchanged worried, almost scared, looks and neither of them wanted to take the risk of nearing a full demon Inuyasha. He didn't move for a few minutes, his breathing became normal, Tetsusaiga transformed back to an old battered sword and he sheathed it.

Just when Miroku had decided it was safe to go to him, Inuyasha reached to the fallen Shikon shards and took them. The thing that made the monk freeze on his place was his friend's claws. The moment his fingers touched the shards they became longer and from the sound of it sharper.

Inuyasha stood up and turned to the demon's arms, which were lying at his right side. He went to them and kicked them away, revealing two more Shikon shards. He bent down to take them and without him noticing the shard on his rosary fell down in a small pool of blood. The others saw everything but since they didn't know what he intended to do they stayed quiet.

Inuyasha now had five Shikon shards. He fisted his right hand and the shards dug into his palm, drawing blood. He looked at the direction where the demon had run and growled. Seeing that the hanyou was going to go after the monster Sango decided they had to do something to stop him – she pushed Miroku toward Inuyasha.

The monk made a few hesitant steps and spoke. "I-Inuyasha..." his slightly shaky voice made Inuyasha turn to him. Miroku and the others stiffened – the hanyou was fully transformed. Now they could clearly see his face and his look terrified them.

"Don't you ever dare near me." Inuyasha snarled. "If I see you again you will die." saying that he turned to the direction the demon had escaped and ran at top speed.

Miroku slowly turned toward the others. Sango shook her head slightly and he could see tears welling up in her eyes. She tried as hard as she could not to cry. Seeing that she was going to give up Miroku ran to her and embraced her. Shippo snuffled and looked at Kirara who just mewed.

"Calm down, Sango." the monk tried to quiet her sobbing. He rubbed his left hand on her back in circles, trying to comfort her.

"How could this happen, Houshi-sama?" she cried in his chest. "Kagome is dead because of us and... and now Inuyasha hates us..."

Miroku didn't know what to say. He knew she was right and the only thing he could tell her was to calm down. But how could he, when he, himself, was on the edge of going insane. Two of their best friends were gone. Kagome was dead, Inuyasha hated them and only God knows why he didn't kill them right away. Suddenly a single sad thought went through his mind 'Naraku won...' Unknown to him that same thought was in everybody's heads.

After a few minutes the monk released Sango. He kissed her forehead and went to the pool of blood where the shard from Inuyasha's rosary had fallen. He took it and the group slowly started to walk back toward the village. When they reached it, it was late afternoon, the sun was setting and the whole sky was red. Kaede stood outside her hut with a worried expression on her face, watching the sky. She knew something was wrong and seeing the group return without two of its members, and their sad looks, she didn't have to ask what had happened.

Inuyasha ran through the forest. He couldn't think of anything else but that demon. The monster had to die. That damned creature was the reason Kagome died. 'No...' the hanyou thought and skidded to a stop. 'It was my fault. It was all my fault... I did it again... I failed the person I cared for the most... I killed her...' a single tear ran down his left cheek and he stood on his place, staring at he ground.

Suddenly the shards in his hand glowed with dark light and he growled. He lifted his hand and wiped the tear away. "Not anymore." he said. "I will never love again. I will never feel again. I will forget them... her." he slipped the shards inside his haori and shook the blood from his hand, then he ran again.

Not long after that, he reached a clearing with a rived by it. The demon was crossing the river when he caught Inuyasha's scent. The hanyou didn't attack and stopped to wait for the demon to turn to him. "You have two more shards. I want them." he said and cracked his fingers, ready to attack.

"I warned you, hanyou, the next time I see you..." the demon couldn't finish as Inuyasha jumped toward it and slashed through it with his claws. The monster flew in every direction in pieces and from his legs fell the two remaining shards. Inuyasha went to them and picked them up.

"Five." he said, his voice becoming colder and rougher. He turned his look toward the mountain in the distance and a small smirk formed on his lips, as the new shards started to glow with darker light than the others. He placed them with the other and a second purple mark appeared on each cheek. He blinked several times and the red from his eyes started to clear and his green orbs started to redden. "Two more, Kouga..." he said and snickered, then ran toward the mountain.

Sesshoumaru woke up with a groan. He opened his eyes and saw the worried faces of Rin and Jaken. His vision was a little blurred but he could see he was still on the hill where he had passed out. With surprise he noticed that the sound was gone and he tried to sit up.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, are you alright?" Rin asked and tried to help him sit up, but her tiny hands couldn't be of too much help, anyway.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, what happened?" Jaken asked next, but also didn't receive an answer.

The dog demon stood up and dusted himself off. He turned to the village and the place where he saw the explosion but everything was calm now. He frowned and started walking toward the forest. "Follow me." he said and his companions complied.

They walked through Inuyasha's forest and were nearing the God Tree when Sesshoumaru saw someone lying down on the grass. It seemed that that someone was unconscious or simply asleep. He stopped and stared for a moment. Jaken and Rin poked their heads from behind him to look at the person and then looked at the dog demon. He didn't say anything and started walking toward the lying person.

Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Kaede were silently sitting in the old Miko's hut. The cracking of the wood in the small fire was the only thing that could be heard, and the group of five seemed to be hypnotized by it. After a while quiet steps were heard from outside and they were closing, but nobody moved to see who was coming.

As the steps stopped the door of the hut opened and the people inside stared in shock at Sesshoumaru. They just gaped at him and he just motioned for them to follow him. He turned but when nobody followed him he spoke. "I don't know what happened here, or why my brother isn't with you, but you might want to see this..."

The people in the hut exchanged confused looks and everybody stood up to follow Sesshoumaru. Imagine the surprise in them when they saw Kagome on Ah-Un's back. Miroku turned to the dog demon to ask him something but he interrupted him. "The girl is still materializing. Her energy has been drained."

"Can we... take her inside?" Sango asked in a quiet but firm voice and Sesshoumaru nodded.

Miroku helped her and when Kagome was in the hut they lied her on her sleeping bag. Then Sango made Shippo and Kirara stay with her and she, Kaede and Miroku went outside to Sesshoumaru. Although Shippo wanted to know what had really happened to Kagome, more than anything he wanted to be with her. He sat next to her with Kirara and smiled.

"You'll be alright, Kagome." he whispered and Kirara mewed in agreement. "And now that you're alive we'll be able to make Inuyasha come back." the kitsune smiled and kissed the girl on the cheek. "And we'll be together again... Naraku hadn't won, yet."

TBC


	11. Chapter Eleven

Miroku, Sango and Kaede stepped outside of the hut, in front of Sesshoumaru. He mentally smirked seeing how uneasy they seemed to feel with him so close. But now was not the time for such thoughts. He had questions and he wanted answers. However, not being a talkative person he just stood there and waited for them to speak first, which he knew they would definitely do.

"What are you doing here, Sesshoumaru?" the monk found the courage to speak first.

"Have some respect, you..." the green demon behind Sesshoumaru started but was quickly cut off.

"Jaken." the dog demon simply said and he ran to Ah-Un and Rin, who were staying a few meters aside. "The sound has stopped. You must've killed the creature." he said.

"I guess Inuyasha did..." Miroku said.

"And where is he?" Sesshoumaru asked not moving his look away from the monk.

"We don't know." Sango answered instead of Miroku, who looked somehow shaky.

The moment Sesshoumaru shifted his look on the demon exterminator she knew what had made Miroku so scared. She had already seen a serious Sesshoumaru but this one was different. This one made her want to rather kill herself than let him catch her. The same thoughts were running through Miroku and Kaede's minds too.

"Does the girl have anything to do with his disappearance?" the dog demon startled them out of their thoughts.

"Y-Yes..." Sango answered again. "He thought she was dead and went off after the demon. A-And since the sound has stopped... the demon m-must be..." she swallowed hard, not able to continue.

"He is transformed, isn't he?" Sesshoumaru asked. "Where is Tetsusaiga?"

"W-Well..." it was Miroku's turn to switch places with Sango. "It's with him. He transformed with a Shikon shard and now he has five."

Sesshoumaru remained silent. Seeing the faces of the people in front of him get more frightened, Rin ran to him and tugged at his right hand's sleeve. He looked at her and the others wandered how she could smile at such cold look. Sometimes that same question was running through his mind too, but he was used to the girl's behavior and this wasn't bothering him anymore.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, don't look at them like that." the girl said. "They'll swallow their tongues from fear."

Sesshoumaru's eyes slightly widened at her words but then he turned toward the others and they sighed in relief. After all he didn't seem to be here with bad intentions. So, calmer now, Miroku stepped closer to him and spoke. "I see you know something about the demon and the sound it was making. Am I right?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru answered. "The sound affects only dog demons and can be deadly if too strong. How did the creature look like?"

"Well, it was big, black, with some sticky thing on it, its head was on its chest and instead of fingers it had long vines." Sango explained, being the expert in demons.

"Your story sounds absurd." Sesshoumaru said and the others looked at him confused. "80 years ago I killed the last of its kind."

"Then this certainly is Naraku's doing." Kaede finally said something.

"You say that my brother is out there, transformed, with five Shikon shards and Tetsusaiga?" the dog demon asked and slowly that terrifying look in his eyes started to return.

"Yes." Miroku answered and involuntary made a step back.

Then Sesshoumaru did something that totally confused the monk and the other two women – he smirked, looking behind them. When they turned they saw Kagome at the hut's door. She was supporting herself at the wall and Shippo and Kirara were at her feet.

"Kagome, get back inside." the kitsune tried to reason with the girl and the cat demon mewed in agreement. "You're still too weak."

"I'm ok, Shippo-chan." Kagome panted and held her left hand on her chest. "I heard everything..." she said and looked at the dog demon in front of her.

"Do you know where he might want to go next?" Sesshoumaru asked, not paying attention to the two small demons and the humans, who were trying to block his way as he made a few steps forward.

"Why do you ask?" Kagome's voice was quiet but firm.

"Do you know? Yes or no?" Sesshoumaru asked and it seemed that he was running out of patience – another unusual thing for him.

"You are going to kill him and take Tetsusaiga..." Kagome said and tried to make a step forward but stumbled. Sango, being the closest to her, caught her and steadied her.

"I have no intention of killing him or taking anything from him." Sesshoumaru explained. "My only wish is to stop him from showing how unfortunate our father was with such son."

"I won't let you talk like that for Inuyasha." Kagome threatened and the dog demon smirked again, witch made Jaken's blood freeze in his veins.

"Very well." Sesshoumaru said. "Tell me where he is and I won't talk like that about him."

Everybody looked at him oddly and untrusting but nobody dared to say anything. They looked at Kagome and Miroku slightly shook his head to show her that telling him wasn't a good idea. He feared that the only way to stop Inuyasha was to kill him and that must be his brother's intention.

As if reading the monk's mind Sesshoumaru looked at him and spoke with his usual cold and stony voice. "I will not kill him. I don't need another enemy except Naraku. And as much as I don't want to admit this my brother is actually a big help against that bastard."

"Alright, then." Kagome said firmly. "But I have one condition."

The dog demon's eyes narrowed as he shifted his look from the monk to her. "What is it?" he asked.

"You will take us with you." the girl said and everybody expected that Sesshoumaru would deny and that's what really happened.

"I have no intention to drag useless humans with me." he said and turned to leave.

"That's right!" Jaken yelled. "Sesshoumaru-sama will fallow his scent, anyway."

"Think again, Sesshoumaru." Kagome surprised him by daring to challenge his decision. "You are no match for Inuyasha now. Soon he will have two more Shikon shards and when you find him you will surely die."

'That annoying girl is right.' Sesshoumaru couldn't help but thinking that. Just now everybody understood why he was acting to strangely. 'And with Tetsusaiga the threat is even bigger...'

"Don't be ridiculous, you stupid woman!" being the greatest 'fan' of his master Jaken laughed, pointing at Kagome.

"Shut up, Jaken-sama." Rin scowled at the green demon. "Sesshoumaru-sama, take them with you. They are his friends and Kagome-chan is the only one he listens."

The dog demon stood with his back to the humans for a few moments. 'For that idiotic brother of mine his friends are the most important thing in his life.' he thought and turned toward the hut. 'It will be easier to stop him with them.'

"Very well." he said out loud. Kagome smiled and the others just couldn't believe their ears.

"B-But, S-Sesshoumaru-sama!" the green demon jumped down from Ah-Un's back and ran to his master. "This is..."

"Jaken." the dog demon spoke and his servant tripped at the sudden raise of the volume of his master's voice. "You and Rin are coming with me."

Hearing that, Jaken wished he was dead. Going after a crazed and bloodthirsty hanyou-turned-demon with five Shikon shards and the most powerful sword in the world wasn't exactly what he wanted. Rin smiled at his desperation and then went to help him stand up.

"I am listening." Sesshoumaru said and looked at Kagome.

"Most likely Inuyasha will want more Shikon shards." she started. "And since most of them are in Naraku's hands the only one who he can get some from is Kouga-kun. I'm sure Inuyasha's gone after him."

Something rustled through the trees. It jumped from tree to tree with enormous speed. In the darkness of the night only the creature's white hair could be outlined. Suddenly, reaching a clearing, the creature stopped and sniffed the air. It was Inuyasha. He growled and ran again.

For a while he didn't stop and just continued leaping from tree to tree. The closer he was getting to the mountain the faster he wanted to run. Soon he was going to be at the foot of the mountain. He stopped to sniff the air again. He snickered, catching Kouga's scent and ran again.

'This time nothing is going to stop me from killing you and taking your shards.' the hanyou thought and growled. 'You are going to pay for all the times you...' suddenly he stopped – he couldn't remember why he hated that wolf so much, he just knew he did. Another thing that confused him was that he couldn't remember what had been stopping him from taking Kouga's life before.

"Like I care..." Inuyasha snapped and growled. The only thing in his mind was: kill Kouga, take the shards, kill Naraku, take the Shikon no Tama. Also there were some other people and demons but he couldn't seem to remember their names. Only one girl, always smiling, seemed too familiar and was giving him an uneasy feeling. He shook all those thoughts from his mind and found the only solution of this problem that suits to his condition – kill them, but not before getting the Shikon no Tama.

If Inuyasha had been paying attention to the Shikon shards he carried he would've noticed that the more he was surrendering to his demon side the more tainted they were becoming. Slowly the only thing he could think was to see, to smell, to taste his victim's blood, it didn't matter who his victim would be. He just wanted, needed to kill and it seemed natural.

High in the mountain Kouga was sitting by a small fire at the entrance of a cave. It wasn't a cold night but he shivered. 'I have a bad feeling...' he thought and sniffed the air, just in case. 'Nothing, no demons at all...' he stood up and dusted himself off. 'This is not good. Usually there is at least one or two who want my dinner, but now...'

"Oh, well..." Kouga sighed and sat again. "Can't have a dinner and a fight every nigh..." he stopped, catching a new scent that seemed awfully familiar. He stood up and looked around, sniffing. "It's too far away. I'm too tired to go after..." he yawned and entered the cave.

'I wonder what Kagome is doing right now...' he thought and sat on the ground, leaning his back and head to the cave wall. 'I'll see her tomorrow, anyway...' was his last thought before he fell asleep, not even guessing what was coming toward him.

TBC


	12. Chapter Twelve

It was after midnight. The fool moon was hidden from clouds but when the wind moved them away, flying high in the sky, could be seen a few figures. The first one was Ah-Un with Kagome, Rin and Jaken on its back. Next to the two-headed demon was flying Sesshoumaru, on his 'cloud'. Behind them was Kirara with Sango, Miroku and Shippo. The group was headed toward the mountain that could be seen in the distance.

"You stupid girl..." Jaken turned to Kagome, obviously angry. "We will never get to that wolf in time. He is probably dead..." the green demon was cut off by a stone hitting his head. "Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama, I'll be quiet..." he mumbled and bent his head in obedience.

Despite the difficult situation they were in Kagome couldn't help but smile at Sesshoumaru's way to make Jaken shut up. However, he had the right to ask and she decided he deserved an answer. "Inuyasha's only way to find Kouga-kun is to fallow his scent." Kagome started and everybody's attention turned to her. "I don't know how good his sense of smell has become with the Shikon shards but he'll never beet my sense for the shards!" she finished with a smile.

The others, even Sesshoumaru, wandered how it is possible for her to act so calm about something so serious. Soon enough Rin fallowed her example and laughed. "Jaken-sama, your eyes are as big as your head!"

Unconsciously Sesshoumaru shook his head. 'Why am I wandering?' he thought. 'I have the same easygoing human girl here...' he looked at Rin and if it wasn't his cold attitude act he would have smiled. Suddenly his eyes narrowed his head snapped to his left, where a small clearing could be seen. Unknown to him, that was the same clearing where his brother had decided to forget everything about himself and to turn completely to his demon side. 'That stupid hanyou...' he mentally growled. 'He's passed through here a while ago... Whatever we do we won't be able to catch up with him on time.'

"Sesshoumaru, do you..." Kagome started, noticing his thoughtful expression, but decided not to bother him. 'Well, he hit Jaken with a stone when he annoyed him...' she thought. Besides she was sure the dog demon had caught Inuyasha's scent. There really was no doubt about that as Kagome saw Sesshoumaru's nose wrinkle a little.

"Hey, Houshi-sama..." Sango whispered, not turning back to look at the monk. Hearing her whisper Kirara immediately slowed down to fall behind the others. It was obvious that the demon exterminator didn't want them to hear what she was about to tell Miroku.

"What is it, Sango?" he asked, leaning closer to her.

"Do you think it was good to let Kagome-chan ride on Ah-Un's back?" she asked and just now turned her head half way to look at the monk.

"No." Miroku said after a moment of hesitation and Sango involuntary flinched. "But now I can be alone with you..." he finished and grinned, preparing for a grope.

"Pervert." Sango growled, nudging him in the stomach to keep him away. "I shouldn't have asked..." she shook her head and patted Kirara on the head, letting her know that she could move faster now.

Inuyasha was finally at the foot of the mountain. It was close to sunrise but it was still dark, due to the clouds and the shadows of the trees. The hanyou took a deep breath and growled. That wolf's scent was near and he couldn't wait to kill him, so he ran toward his destination. He jumped up the mountain slope and the stronger Kouga's scent was getting the more enraged Inuyasha was becoming. Nothing could stop him now.

Kouga was peacefully sleeping in his cave. Suddenly he jerked awake and sniffed the air. 'That scent...' he thought and stood up, exiting the cave. 'It's so close already? And it's coming closer.' he quickly went to the still dying fire and turned it off. Then he returned to the cave entrance and waited there, hidden in its darkness.

Soon enough something rustled in the trees in front. Kouga struggled to see what made the noise but it was sill too dark to see anything, even with his demon vision. 'It can't be a strong demon...making so much noise...' he slowly left his hiding place and stood outside the cave.

Suddenly something burst through the trees and before he could react a strong clawed hand pinned him to the rock next to the cave entrance. He coughed, trying to take a breath, but the hand gripped his throat tighter and he shut his eyes tighter. He heard a familiar growl and his eyes immediately snapped open.

"Inu...ya...sha..." he managed to say, seeing the growling hanyou. Kouga was in utter shock – although he was sure the demon in front of him was Inuyasha, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Inuyasha's pupils were a mix of green and red, and the white of his eyes was almost completely red, his fangs were longer and he was sure – sharper, and from the feel of it the same thing was valid for the hanyou's claws.

"Now you will die." Inuyasha snickered and raised his free right hand to slice Kouga's throat.

Inuyasha's grip on the wolf demon's throat had left him powerless and Kouga could only wait his death. But he wasn't the type to give up. The moment Inuyasha's hand was going to cut him, Kouga found strength to kick him in the stomach and to push him away. The hanyou growled and jumped back in the trees.

Kouga fell on his knees, coughing and holding his throat. He was desperately trying to stay on guard as he fought to catch his breath. 'What the hell was that?' he thought. 'That bastard... What's happened to him?'

The wolf demon was finally able to stand up and prepared for the attack he was sure was going to come from Inuyasha. "Come out, dog-shit! Show me what you've got!" he shouted but nothing happened. Suddenly a horrible thought ran through his mind. 'Where is Kagome? In this condition, whatever it is, Inuyasha could have killed her!'

Noticing Kouga's inattention Inuyasha found this to be a perfect opportunity to attack and jumped at him. Coming back to reality the wolf demon barely escaped the hanyou's claws, jumping back and landing in crouched position.

"If you struggle it will hurt more." Inuyasha snarled, standing in front of Kouga, ready to hit again.

"Where is Kagome?" Kouga asked, getting up. "What have you done with her?"

Hearing that name something in Inuyasha snapped and suddenly he was jumping toward the wolf demon and launching his Sankontessou again. An unexplainable rage burned within him and this time Kouga wasn't able to avoid the attack. It hit his legs, drawing the two Shikon shards out and before he knew what had happened Inuyasha had caught them and jumped back away.

Kouga fell on his back and when he lifted himself a bit he saw his bloody legs and Inuyasha, standing not too far away, holding something. "My shards! Give them back!" the wolf demon shouted and tried to get up but fell back down.

Inuyasha snickered and placed the shards inside his haori, where the other five were. He closed his eyes and a dark red aura appeared around him. His hair started floating slightly in the air and suddenly his claws grew longer. Slowly his dog ears started to move lower on his head's sides and turned to ones like Sesshoumaru's.

The sun was rising and the aura around Inuyasha started to disappear. His eyes snapped open and Kouga saw that they were normal again, except that the pupils were red. The hanyou took a deep breath and then released it, a scary smirk forming on his lips. He cracked his fingers and started walking toward the fallen wolf demon.

'What the hell is that mutt up to?' Kouga screamed in his mind and tried to crawl away, but Inuyasha was closing faster than he was crawling, leaving no chance for him to escape.

When Inuyasha was just a few steps away from Kouga he unsheathed Tetsusaiga and raised the sword in the air. Kouga closed his eyes and waited for him to strike – this time nothing could save him...

"Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru's voice made the wolf demon open his eyes in time to see the dog demon's green whip wrap around the hanyou's wrist and pull him back.

Inuyasha lost his balance, turning half way around. The others, who were not too far away, behind Sesshoumaru, gasped at the sight of the transformed hanyou. Sesshoumaru was left in shock when he saw his brother and pulled his whip away. Deciding that Kouga wasn't a threat anymore Inuyasha turned all the way toward his brother and held Tetsusaiga in front of him. Sesshoumaru landed and drew out Tokijin.

Not wanting to waste more time Inuyasha immediately attacked. Sesshoumaru also charged at his brother. At the last moment, before the two swords were going to meet, Inuyasha moved out of the way. He slipped behind Sesshoumaru and hit him in the back with the dull side of Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru made a few steps forward and fell unconscious on the ground.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken and Rin screamed in horror.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted and her voice caught his attention.

The group of people and demons were closing him fast and he knew he had to either run or fight, but that girl... Inuyasha's right hand started shaking and he dropped his sword. Sesshoumaru had come back to his senses and saw his brother make a step back. Kagome called his name again and his eyes widened.

"Kagome..." he breathed out and made another step back. "No..." he shook his head and an evil smirk found its way to his lips. "I won't give you the Shikon shards! Did you think I would fall for such a copy?!" yelling that Inuyasha threw Tetsusaiga at Ah-Un and ran away, into the woods, not seeing his sword missing to hit its target.

TBC


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Inuyasha ran through the forest as fast as he could. He wanted to get away from them, from her. Deep in his heart he wanted to believe that she was alive, that everything that had happened was just a nightmare and he was soon going to wake up. "Wake up... Wake up..." he repeated and unconsciously he was slowing down.

The more he was getting away from the fight the more Inuyasha was wandering why he was running and why the hell he wanted to wake up. Finally he stopped. 'Why am I running?' he asked himself and raised his hands to look at them. He looked at how long and most likely sharp his claws had become and smirked.

Soon his smirk was replaced by a frown. That girl was making him feel really worried. Why was he so enraged when Kouga said her name? Why did he want to run when he saw her? "That's right." he said. "There's no need to run from them. I'm much stronger. I could've killed them in no time." he cracked his fingers and turned to look at the direction he had come from.

Unnoticed to him the shards in his haori started glowing. Again that girl's face appeared in front of him. 'What was her name?' Inuyasha thought and scratched the top of his head. "I don't have time for this. Now it's time for Naraku's piece of the Shikon no Tama." saying that Inuyasha ran off again.

In a dark room, leaned to the wall, was sitting Naraku. He was wearing his baboon skin. Kanna was standing in front of him, holding her mirror. He reached toward the mirror with his right hand and trailed his index finger across the glass. A few small waves appeared on the glass and slowly a vision started to clear.

"Inuyasha..." Naraku sighed as the hanyou appeared in the mirror, running through a forest. "I admit that he caught me unprepared this time." the evil demon continued silently looking at the glass with a thoughtful expression.

'What do I do with that annoying hanyou?' he thought and looked at the running Inuyasha. 'He has seven Shikon shards, he's full demon... At least he doesn't have Tetsusaiga... Should I kill him or...' a rather pleasing thought ran through his mind and he involuntary smirked.

"Kohaku." he finally said and the boy entered the room from a secret door in the wall across.

"Yes, Naraku-sama." he said and half kneeled in front of his master.

"I have a work for you." Naraku said with the smirk still on his lips and sent Kanna away.

Around noon Inuyasha finally stopped running. He was by a hot spring with a small waterfall near it. "That wolf's blood is all over me." he growled out and went to the spring. Inuyasha kneeled down and looked at his reflection in the water. One of his newfound evil smirks formed on his lips.

Inuyasha stared at his face for a while and then stood up. Without removing his clothes he entered the water and went to the waterfall. 'Now, how do I find Naraku?' he thought as he closed his eyes and let his hair drip on his face. 'He sure knows I have his shards. Most likely he'll come to get them. But not by himself.' after that thought, Inuyasha frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. 'Whoever he sends, I can't kill him. I'll use him to lead me to Naraku.'

"Yes." Inuyasha smirked again and growled. "I'm waiting for you, Naraku."

In the same forest where Inuyasha was, Kohaku was jumping from tree to tree, heading toward the hanyou. 'I wonder what Naraku is up to this time.' the boy thought and stopped on a tree to look around, just in case if someone was following him. He opened his right hand and looked at what was in his palm. 'He made this shouki crystal look like a Shikon shard.' after a while Kohaku just shrugged and leaped to another tree.

As Inuyasha was under the waterfall his head suddenly snapped up and his eyes shot open. "So, he sent that brat." the hanyou growled and exited the water. He shook all the water off of him and cracked his fingers. "I smell two shards. This should be easy."

Soon enough Kohaku jumped at the spring and looked around. He could feel Inuyasha's presence but couldn't tell where he was. His youki was everywhere. The feel of it was so intense that it was almost tangible. 'My God, Inuyasha's youki could match Naraku's now.' the boy thought and as soon as he did that Inuyasha came from behind him and stopped only a few meters away.

"Looking for me? Or trying to avoid me?" the hanyou growled out and Kohaku spun around. Inuyasha made a step forward and the boy jumped a few meters back.

"Inuyasha, what happened to you?" Kohaku pretended to be in shock.

"I see... Trying to avoid me." the hanyou smirked and looked toward Kohaku's right hand. "What do you have there? A new shard for Naraku?"

As soon as Inuyasha had said that he jumped toward the boy. He was too fast for Kohaku to react and the hanyou hit him in the stomach so hard that he dropped the shard in his hand. The boy fell in the spring and the shard on the grass. Inuyasha snickered and went to pick it up.

"Eight." he said and placed the shard inside his haori. Then he walked toward Kohaku who was just coming to his senses. "Get up, brat." he said and grabbed the boy by the collar of his uniform. Inuyasha dragged him out of the water and threw him on the grass.

"Inu...yasha..." Kohaku coughed a little before looking at him. "You can't escape after stealing one of Naraku-sama's shards." he said and wanted to stand up but Inuyasha kicked him in the side and he fell back down, coughing.

"That bastard is thinking that he can beat me? Well, he's wr...." Inuyasha suddenly stopped, feeling a pulse run through his body. His right hand went to his chest where he put the new shard and he felt it pulse again. The hanyou thought for a minute and smirked to himself as he heard a familiar voice call his name and try to convince him in becoming his servant.

Kohaku turned to look at him and saw the purple glow coming from the hanyou's haori. Then Inuyasha went closer to the boy and took his weapon, which was still on his back, and threw it in the spring. "Actually I want to go to your master." he said and grabbed Kohaku by the neck, bringing him up. "That's what he wants, isn't it?" he asked and the boy slowly nodded. "Lead the way then."

Inuyasha released Kohaku's neck and the boy immediately jumped away from him. "Follow me." he said and started jumping from tree to tree, followed by Inuyasha.

"Excellent." Naraku laughed, as he saw in Kanna's mirror everything. "He still has his own motives to come to me, but the closer he gets, the more powerful my influence on him will become." the evil demon laughed again and waved his hand at Kanna, sending her away.

Unknown to him Kagura heard everything behind the secret door. She flinched at the thought of Inuyasha becoming Naraku's servant. But what could she do? She couldn't warn him – in this condition he would rather kill her than listen to her. She couldn't warn his friends either... She couldn't even get out of the castle without being noticed or fallowed by the Saimyoushou. Kagura cursed as she silently moved away from the door.

'But when I think about it...' she thought as she was walking in the corridor. 'Naraku's too obsessed with his current plan – he didn't even notice me when I was eavesdropping. Maybe I will be able to get away from here...' with that Kagura decided what to do and she hurried toward the exit.

It was around sunset and Sesshoumaru was standing in front the cave. They still hadn't moved from there and he was getting really impatient this time. After Inuyasha had run away they had stayed only to help Kouga and ask him what had happened, but that wolf ruined everything. He was so persistent wanting to join them that Kagome had to promise to take him with them in order to tell them what happened.

Now Kouga was peacefully sleeping in the cave, recovering from his injuries and they couldn't leave him while he was asleep. Kagome wouldn't let them and Kouga knew that. For the first time in his life Sesshoumaru was enraged. He wanted to yell at someone, to break something. 'No wonder why my brother is so loud and easy to get angry...' he thought and sighed, trying to calm himself.

Inside the cave the others were sitting around the fire and Kouga was sleeping not too far away, his legs were bandaged. Jaken was arguing about something with Shippo and Rin, Miroku was trying to get to touch Sango's butt but always got a bump on the head. Only Kagome was silent. She kept staring at the fire.

"Kagome-chan..." Sango started and the girl looked at her. "Kagome-chan, are you alright?"

"Yes." Kagome gave her friend a weak smile. "I'm just thinking."

"Don't worry, Kagome-sama." Miroku smiled at her. "We'll find Inuyasha and get him back no matter what happens."

"I hope so." the girl smiled again, and then turned her look toward the exit of the cave. "I wonder what Sesshoumaru's thinking about this. I'll go ask him." Kagome said and before her friends could protest she was out of the cave.

"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru snapped as soon as she appeared outside, but didn't turn to look at her.

"I..." Kagome swallowed hard, startled by the coldness in his voice. "I just wanted..."

"I agreed to wait for that wolf, so leave me alone..." he said and didn't move from his place.

Behind him Kagome felt anger rising in her. Although she was kind of afraid of him, finally, she just couldn't stand his ignorance and lack of concern for his brother. She stomped to him and pulling his hand turned him to face her. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in shock and surprise when she slapped his left cheek.

"Don't you care at least a little about him?" Kagome yelled at the startled dog demon, tears of anger forming in her eyes. "He is your brother! It doesn't matter he's a hanyou!" she took a deep breath and continued. "Why do you hate humans so much? We can be much stronger than many demons... Look Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, even me! If you hate humans so much then why do you keep Rin-chan with you?"

When Kagome had exited the cave the others had silently crawled toward the exit of the cave to listen what was happening. Jaken passed out the moment she slapped Sesshoumaru and the others felt a shiver of fear run down their spines. Only Rin seemed to be calm but Kagome's last question caught her attention.

"It's not that." surprisingly Sesshoumaru started. "A human must earn his respect from me. Rin has done that, you and your friends too. Inuyasha is too stubborn to accept this as a fact. That is why I keep acting toward him the same as always."

After Sesshoumaru finished talking Kagome just stared at him, unbelieving at what she had heard. Suddenly she felt her anger replace with happiness – she had made the great Sesshoumaru-sama open up for her. Now, more than ever, she was sure that nothing could stand in her way. If she could make Sesshoumaru talk, she was sure she would be able to make Inuyasha come back to her.

TBC


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Kagome and Sesshoumaru had sat outside the cave and had made a small fire. The others had remained hidden inside the cave. They were sure that Sesshoumaru had noticed them and it was better for them not to show up right now. That was exactly what the dog demon was thinking – he couldn't bear looking at them after the confession he had made in front of Kagome. Can you imagine Sesshoumaru embarrassed?

"Inuyasha always causes problems." Kagome said mostly to herself but then shook her head and sighed. She couldn't help but think that she was the one to blame for everything that happened. Unknown to her the others were thinking the same thing, with one change – every one of them blamed themselves for everything.

"Too bad that he got separated from Tetsusaiga." Sesshoumaru surprised her by sharing one of his thoughts.

"Why?" Kagome asked.

"Although the effect of the sword's barrier had been reduced by the Shikon shards and his want to become a full demon, I think that Tetsusaiga was still keeping his human emotions in him. That's why he recognized you." Sesshoumaru explained.

"So now, without Tetsusaiga, he will completely revert to his demon side?" Kagome asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." the dog demon answered. "At first I thought it was bad that he had Tetsusaiga but now... I take my words back. Now he has seven shards and he is full demon, without any stoppages."

"What do you think we should do now?" Kagome asked and Sesshoumaru thought for a moment before answering to her.

"My brother isn't stupid." the dog demon started. "Until now the human feelings he had were 'clouding' his mind."

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked a little confused.

"I'll try to explain it to you." Sesshoumaru said and looked at her. "In his hanyou form Inuyasha's demon and human sides are mixed up. You've seen how loud and uncontrollable he is." he waited for Kagome to nod and then continued. "In his human form he must be more talkative and understanding, right?" the girl slowly nodded, again, and he continued. "And in his demon form he is just a mindless killing machine. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"I think so..." Kagome said unsure. "You mean that, now, with the Shikon shards he is full demon but he hasn't lost his mind?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru nodded. "Only his human feelings and emotions are hidden away from him and if he doesn't get rid of the shards he'll loose them."

"I doubt he'll ever want to do that if he thinks that Kagome is dead." Kagura's voice was heard as she landed on the clearing in front of the cave.

Sesshoumaru calmly stood up and stepped in front of her, while the others rushed outside and prepared to fight. Kagura looked at them a little startled that they were all there but then turned to the dog demon a little annoyed.

"Calm down." she said and glanced at everybody, reassuringly. "I'm not here to fight."

"What do you want then?" Sesshoumaru asked first.

"I came to warn you about Inuyasha and Naraku." the wind demoness said and that caught the attention of the humans and demons in front of her.

Kagome stepped by Sesshoumaru's right side and looked at Kagura, a little untrustingly. "And why would you do that?"

"She wants Naraku dead as bad as us." Sesshoumaru said calmly, not waiting for her to answer. "Maybe even more..."

"That's tight." Kagura nodded. "Naraku holds my heart. He can kill me whenever he wants, so I can't stay here for long."

"What do you have to tell us?" Miroku stepped beside Kagome.

"Naraku gave Inuyasha a fake Shikon shard. Actually it is a shouki crystal. And right now Inuyasha is heading toward Naraku with Kohaku." Kagura explained and hearing her brother's name Sango ran to the wind demoness.

"Kohaku?" she asked worriedly. "Is he alright? Has Inuyasha done anything to him?"

"No." Kagura answered and Sango sighed in relief. Kagome couldn't help but feel bad that her friend was afraid that Inuyasha could hurt her brother.

"What are Naraku's intentions?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"He wants to make Inuyasha his servant. That's why he gave him the fake Shikon shard." Kagura said and worriedly looked around as if afraid that someone might have followed her. "The closer Inuyasha gets to Naraku, the stronger his influence will grow. You have to stop him from going there."

"How?" Miroku asked. "We don't even know where he is. And something tells me that you can't tell us where to find him."

"Yes." Kagura nodded. "Naraku made a spell that prevents us, his servants, from revealing his location. You have to find a way to get Inuyasha away from Naraku." with that said Kagura didn't wait for another question or comment and flew in the air on one of her feathers. "I can't stay any longer. Good luck." she said and was gone in the sky.

"That was unexpected." Shippo grunted and jumped on Miroku's shoulder.

"I can't think of a way to bring Inuyasha here or even away from Naraku." the monk said mostly to himself.

"I have an idea." Kagome said and everybody looked at her. "We have one shard left." she started and took the shard out of the small glass bottle on her neck. "I already can feel the Shikon shards as it is, but I thought that I could try to contact them... I mean Inuyasha's shards."

"Can you really do that?" Sesshoumaru asked a little untrustingly.

"I don't know, but it's worth a try." Kagome half smiled.

"I don't know, Kagome-sama..." Miroku said a little unsure.

"Yeah, Kagome-chan, look what happened when Kaede-baachan connected you with only one shard." Sango pointed out.

"Don't worry, guys." Kagome laughed a little nervously, which only Sesshoumaru noticed. "I promise I'll be careful. Besides, what could possibly happen?"

The others looked at her with uncertainty on their faces but then reluctantly nodded. They moved away from Kagome to give her place, just in case. She smiled at them and held the shard in her hands. Then she closed her eyes and stayed like that for a while. She tried to picture Inuyasha in her mind and called his name repeatedly. Soon enough the shard in her hands started glowing in pure pink light.

Kagome felt light and free, it was like she was flying. Suddenly a sharp pain in her chest made her eyes shoot open and she saw that she was somehow jumping from tree to tree with enormous speed. In front of her, on Kagura's feather along with her, was flying Kohaku.

'Wait a minute...' the girl managed to stand the pain in her chest just enough to think over about what she was seeing. 'I must be seeing through Inuyasha's eyes... But why? I just wanted to contact the shards... And that pain...' suddenly she stopped moving and heard a familiar growl, then she finally lost to the pain and passed out.

Inuyasha suddenly stopped jumping and stood on a tree branch. Kagura noticed that he wasn't following and flew not too close to him. "Hey, why are you stopping?" she asked the hanyou and he answered her with a low threatening growl, not looking at her.

'What the hell was that?' Inuyasha asked himself and sniffed the air. 'There's nobody from them here...' he thought about the girl and he other humans and demons with her. 'How come I smelled her? And I felt another Shikon shard...'

"Inuyasha," Kagura took him out of his thoughts and this time he turned to her. "Let's go. Naraku is waiting." she guessed that Kagome and the others have found a way to contact him and couldn't help but feel happy. But a dark thought went through her mind – when she had been on her way to the castle, Naraku had contacted her and had told her to help Kohaku and not to allow Inuyasha to run away at any cost, and that meant that Naraku knew she had warned his friends.

'I guess Naraku could wait.' Inuyasha thought and turned back toward the forest. 'I can deal with him later. That shouki crystal is making me stronger but I don't know if I would be able to stand that bastard's control when I get close to him.' the hanyou smirked at the thought of killing that annoying dog demon, who thought he could be defeated so easily. 'I will kill them all... and take the shard.'

"Hey!" Kagura almost shouted. "Are you listening to me?" she asked and wanted to fly closer to Inuyasha but Kohaku tugged at her sleeve and when she looked at him he shook his head. As soon as the boy had showed her that it wasn't good idea to near the hanyou, Inuyasha turned toward them. "Well?" the wind demoness asked.

"Naraku sees everything, right?" Inuyasha asked, looking at Kagura and she slowly nodded. "He'll know when I'm ready to come to him. If you want to live you won't stop me." with that the hanyou ran off in the direction he could feel the shard was.

Kagura was ready to follow Naraku's order and not let him get away and attack him, but Kohaku stopped her. "Naraku-sama, said to leave him alone." the boy said and the wind demoness looked at his lifeless and emotionless eyes – she immediately knew that Kohaku was under Naraku's control and she had to listen to him. "We should go back." with that they were off in the direction they were originally headed.

Kagome slowly started to come to consciousness. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in the cave. Sango noticed that she was awake and crawled to her. Kagome slowly lifted herself on her elbows and looked at her friend.

"Kagome-chan, are you alright?" the demon exterminator asked, concern not hidden in her voice.

"Yes..." the other girl said and sat up. "I think so..."

The others, except Kouga who seemed to be still sleeping, were outside of the cave but Sesshoumaru had heard Kagome speak and they had come inside. "What happened?" the dog demon asked.

"I..." the girl rubbed her forehead, trying to gather her thoughts, then she continued. "I think I contacted with Inuyasha's shards and I think he noticed me. But there was something strange..." her words trailed off as she remembered the pain in her chest and that she was seeing through the hanyou's eyes.

"What?" Miroku asked.

"I could see through his eyes and I felt a sharp pain in the chest..." Kagome explained and the others looked at her oddly. "What could that mean?"

"It means that dog-face has absorbed the shards in his body." Kouga, who had woken up just a few minutes before Kagome, startled them.

"That's bad, isn't it?" Shippo asked, jumping in Sango's lap.

"Yeah." the wolf demon said and involuntary flinched, seeing Kagome's worried look. "We can't take the shards out of his body just like that. We'll have to make him want to take them out."

"What would happen if we remove them without him wanting to do that?" Kagome asked, her voice a little shaky.

"He'll die." Kouga said offhandedly and Kagome barely managed to hold back a gasp and her tears.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Shippo asked, looking mainly at Sesshoumaru.

"We'll wait for him to come to us." the dog demon said and turned to exit the cave.

TBC


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Naraku was sitting in his dark room. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping – he had taken control over Kohaku and had just stopped talking with Kagura. Slowly his eyes opened and in front of him was Kanna with her mirror. The girl made a few steps closer to her master and held her mirror in front of his face.

"He is stronger than I thought." the evil hanyou said and touched the mirror with one finger. An image of Inuyasha running through a forest appeared. "He is actually able to draw energy from me through my shouki crystal."

"His shards are absorbing your youki and he is loosing to his demon side faster." Kanna said with her emotionless and quiet voice. As Naraku waved his hand at her, sending her away, she saw Inuyasha's eyes turn toward her as if knowing they were watching him. "Naraku..." she started.

"What?" he asked but didn't look at her.

By the time Kanna had moved her mirror to show her master that Inuyasha was aware of them spying on him, the hanyou had already turned his look away and was running through the forest. "Nothing..." the girl said and left the room.

"That annoying hanyou..." Naraku almost growled once he was left alone. He stood up and walked toward the wall across, then turned around and returned to his previous place. "He is draining my energy." he said angry and sat back down. "...caught me unprepared again, huh? No. I'll let you kill your friends and then take your shards... to make you see what you have done." with that the evil hanyou started laughing.

As Inuyasha was running he suddenly skidded to a stop on a small clearing. A dangerous smirk formed on his lips as he sniffed the air. Although he still had a way to go he could already smell them. He could tell that they hadn't moved from where he had left them and this was making things a lot easier. He already knew the terrain from his fight with the wolf demon. 'What was his name?' the hanyou wandered but quickly gave up. 'Doesn't matter... If they hadn't killed him I will.' He sniffed again and this time none of their scents made him feel uncomfortable. He didn't have feelings anymore – he had wants and needs. He wanted to kill them, he needed to taste their blood.

Inuyasha snickered at the thought of being able to see their horrified and filled with pain eyes. He would start with the dog demon. Yes, that creature not only looked dangerous – he really was. His eyes, his stance, the way he moved, even his scent was threatening.

Then he would kill the monk and the demon exterminator. They both looked to be strong but only for 'scum demons' as they were called. Inuyasha didn't think they would cause him trouble, in fact they would be dead in a blink of an eye.

Next were the two-headed demon and the cat demon. They were just wild animals to him and they weren't going to be a big challenge. So, he would kill them fast. There was a small girl, a kitsune and a strange toad-like demon – he wasn't going to waste his time in killing them. Perhaps they would be long gone went he would get there.

"Wasn't there someone else?" he asked no one in particular and rubbed his forehead. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air again. He noticed a tenth scent but he had no idea whose it could be. "Doesn't matter... Whoever it is, will die like the others." with that the hanyou ran again.

The sun had already set and it was dark. After his talk with Kagome and the others, when she had woken up, Sesshoumaru had gone outside the cave. He sat on a large rock at the right side of the entrance. He didn't want to admit it to anyone and he sure wouldn't, but he was really worried. He thought about how easily Inuyasha had managed to catch him off guard and send him unconscious on the ground.

'If it wasn't Kagome, he would've killed me then.' the dog demon thought and placed some of his hair behind his ear. A light wind blew and he held his hand there, he thought he smelled Inuyasha. He stood up and sniffed but there was nothing. 'I must've imagined it. He can't be that fast...'

"Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin took him out of his thoughts.

"What is it?" he asked turning toward her.

"Kouga-sama and Miroku-sama want to guard the cave too." the girl said and Sesshoumaru could hear the two men's voices trying to make Rin shut up. She just smiled at her savior and he turned away, sitting back down on the rock.

"They are afraid to ask, aren't they?" he asked with his cold and indifferent voice, but he raised its volume on purpose and heard shushing sounds from inside.

"Yes!" Rin smiled, she was obviously having fun. "What do I tell them?"

"I don't care." the dog demon simply said and a small smile formed on his lips – it was actually relaxing to tease somebody.

Jaken wanted to show the stupid humans and demons that he wasn't afraid of his mighty master and exited the cave just when Sesshoumaru smiled. Seeing him the toad-like demon ran back inside the cave with horrified screams. Rin couldn't surpass her laughter and she barely managed to go back inside without falling.

"Jaken-sama, you're so funny." she said trying to catch her breath and sat next to Kagome, while he hid behind Ah-Un, mumbling something about the end of the world.

Kagome and the demon exterminator were also laughing but not that hard like Rin. Soon the cave became quiet again and Kouga and Miroku, who finally understood that they didn't need to be afraid of Sesshoumaru, went outside. The hours passed on after another and Inuyasha wasn't coming. The moon raised and the whole clearing could be seen clearly.

The whole night passed only with a few false alerts from a passing animals and small harmless demons. It was close to sunrise when Sesshoumaru and Kouga heard a faint rustle in the bushes around them. The wolf demon made a sign to the other men not to move – it was the same as when Inuyasha had attacked him and he wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. But...

"I don't smell anything." Kouga said. "He must be against the wind."

"Go warn the others." Sesshoumaru said quietly to Miroku and the monk entered the cave.

"Houshi-sama, what is it?" Sango asked him when he came to them.

"Be ready." he said. "Inuyasha might be outside."

"Might be?" Kagome asked a little confused. "Don't they smell him or..."

"No." Miroku interrupted her. "It might be a false alarm. Just be ready..." with that he turned to go outside.

Kagome took her bow and Sango her Hiraikotsu. Kirara transformed and followed Miroku, along with Ah-Un. Rin and Jaken stayed with the two girls and waited for whatever was going to happen outside. It was a mystery for everyone how Inuyasha would act, fight. They didn't even have a suggestion about what he would do when he comes.

'Finally.' Inuyasha thought and snickered as he closed the clearing. He made sure to stay against the wind so his enemies wouldn't catch his scent. 'That wolf is there. Let's see if he'll fall for the same trick twice.' the hanyou snickered again and jumped on a tree, just across the cave entrance.

The dog demon, the wolf demon and the monk were outside. 'The others must be in that cave.' the hanyou thought and jumped down behind a bush, then jumped to another tree. He looked at the reaction of the three men and smirked. 'He's learned his lesson.' he thought as he saw Kouga warn his companions not to move to see what is behind the bushes.

Then the monk entered the cave and now Inuyasha was sure that the others were inside. 'My shard must be there.' he thought and snickered again. He saw that the dog demon had herd him and quickly but noiselessly jumped to another tree. "No more time wasting..." Inuyasha growled and jumped toward Sesshoumaru.

Miroku was just at the cave exit when he saw a white-red blur jump toward Sesshoumaru. A loud almost animalistic growl was heard and in a blink of an eye the dog demon was hit in the stomach by the blur, his armor breaking. Kagome and Sango also heard the growl and ran after the monk, telling Jaken and Ah-Un to keep Rin safe.

When the three humans and the cat demon were outside they saw Inuyasha jump away from Sesshoumaru. The dog demon was doubled over, leaning to the rock and holding his stomach. Inuyasha snickered and charged again, this time toward Kouga. He was too fast for the wolf demon and jumping in the air kicked him in the head. He sent him flying toward the left side of the cave. Kouga made a small crater hitting the hard rock and slid on the ground barely staying conscious.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as he was going to attack Sesshoumaru again.

He didn't seem to even notice her and was just going to hit his brother again when Sesshoumaru straightened up drawing Tokijin and trying to hit the hanyou. Inuyasha easily stopped his attack and jumped back, landing in a crouching position.

Sesshoumaru breathed heavily and made a step forward. From his brother's punch in the stomach and the movement he had made to draw out his sword his armor completely shattered and fell in pieces on the ground. Kouga was just standing up when he saw what happened.

"Kagome, get back inside!" the wolf demon yelled at the girl but she didn't pay attention to him.

"Inuyasha," she made a step forward and he growled. "Inuyasha, it's me, Ka..."

Not waiting her to continue Inuyasha jumped toward her. Sango ran in front of her friend, despite her protests, and threw Hiraikotsu at the hanyou. He stopped just for a second to smash the large boomerang to the ground and then continued toward the demon exterminator. The next one who stood on his way was the monk. He ran toward Inuyasha and tried to hit him with his staff but the hanyou was faster and hit him in the stomach, sending him on the ground about twenty meters away from the fight.

"Stay back." Sesshoumaru said just when Sango was drawing her sword. "You will just get in the way." he then stood in front of everybody and pointed his sword at Inuyasha.

"But we can..." Kagome started but was interrupted by Kouga's hand on her shoulder.

"He's right." the wolf demon said. "Besides we must get the monk away form them."

The two girls nodded and waited for a good opportunity to go and get Miroku. While that the two brothers were just standing in front of each other, glaring. Sesshoumaru made a step to the right side of the cave entrance and Inuyasha followed him. He was well aware that his brother was trying to take him away from the others and was going to make him think that he was falling for it.

Sesshoumaru noticed that Inuyasha was sniffing the air and immediately knew that he was searching the Shikon shard. To take his thoughts away from that matter he attacked and Inuyasha followed his brother's example.

TBC


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Sesshoumaru ran toward Inuyasha and swung his sword to hit his brother. Inuyasha managed to avoid the hit with little effort, ducking under the blade and trying to trip Sesshomaru. But the dog demon wasn't one to be underestimated and predicted the hanyou's move. He jumped back and found himself just a few meters away from the monk's body. As Inuyasha took his place in front of his brother Miroku's body remained between them.

"How are we going to get him now?" Kagome asked mostly herself.

"If they don't move away we can't." Kouga said the obvious just to make things worse and received angry glares from the girls.

Shippo had been left in the cave with Jaken, Ah-Un and Rin but quickly got irritated with the green demon's behavior. He wasn't stopping talking about how Sesshoumaru-sama was going to show the stupid hanyou who's the strongest one. So, disobeying Kagome's order to stay inside, the kitsune had crept toward the exit of the cave and had seen everything. One thing about the fight and his friends pissed him off...

"Kagome!" Shippo screamed and she turned toward him. "The rosary! Sit him!"

Kagome's eyes widened and she would've cursed herself if she was Inuyasha for her stupidity. The kitsune was right to be angry – with the rosary there it wasn't necessary to be a fight and Miroku wouldn't have to be hit like that and lying unconscious in the middle of the fight field. Having absolutely the same opinion about this matter Sango and Kouga encouraged Kagome to try with the spell.

"Sesshoumaru," the girl shouted, "I'm gonna try something so stay away..." with that Kagome stepped closer.

The dog demon didn't know what she was thinking but didn't attack his brother, like he had just wanted to do. Inuyasha just smirked and looked at the girl, immediately catching the scent of the Shikon shard she was carrying. If she wanted to come to him he wasn't going to stop her. He even made a step toward her.

"Inuyasha," Kagome started and made another step toward him, "sit."

Everyone who knew what usually happens when that word is said expected Inuyasha to hit the ground. But when nothing happened they were left in utter shock, the rosary beads didn't even glow. Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome but when he saw she wasn't in the condition to answer just decided to deal with Inuyasha his way and attacked.

Inuyasha's smirk widened when after the girl had said the word nothing happened. Before he could enjoy the shocked expression on her face he noticed that the dog demon was attacking. He jumped back as Tokijin's blade hit the ground where he had stood seconds before. Taking the opportunity Sesshoumaru quickly went to Miroku and took him to the cave entrance.

"Hide inside." he said to the others and turned toward Inuyasha, who was already ready to attack.

Strangely, but it seemed that the hanyou was holding back. Everybody noticed that and Sesshoumaru was ready to swear that his brother was just playing with them. 'I'm not going to let him humiliate me like that.' the dog demon thought and allowed himself a low growl before attacking his brother.

Inuyasha snickered and jumped toward Sesshoumaru. 'That's more like what I expected from you.' he thought and attacked the dog demon with his Sankontessou.

With only one swing of Tokijin, Sesshoumaru was able to stop Inuyasha's attack but he still had the feeling that this wasn't everything his brother could show. As if purposely proving his thoughts to be true in a blink of an eye Inuyasha was in front of is brother and hitting him in the stomach with his knee. Sesshoumaru doubled over and coughed while Inuyasha hit him on the back with his elbow and sent him on the ground barely able to stay conscious.

Seeing what was happening with Sesshoumaru, Kouga immediately knew that his turn was coming. By the way the dog demon looked and was struggling to breathe, coughing blood, it was clear that his ribs were broken. Inuyasha turned toward the cave where the wolf demon was standing and the two girls and kitsune were trying to bring to consciousness the monk. He smirked and started slowly walking toward them.

"Kagome, you better get ready." Kouga said, making the others lift their heads and see the nearing hanyou.

Miroku was just coming to his senses when he was forced to get up and move deeper into the cave. He saw the condition Sesshoumaru was in and immediately regretted that he was awake. Sango and Kagome took the monk and Shippo to Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un and returned to Kouga. Sango drew out her sword and Kagome prepared an arrow to shoot.

"Kagome-chan, where are the shards?" the demon exterminator asked and the transformed Kirara stood by her mistress' side.

"In his chest." the other girl said.

"I'm sorry, Kagome, but there's no way to make him remove the shards himself." Kouga said, turning half way to look at her.

"I know." she sighed. "We'll have to take the risk of removing them ourselves."

"Finished talking?" Inuyasha's voice was filled with mockery as he spoke. "I want my shard. If you give it to me I will consider not killing you." he said and stopped walking about ten meters away from the cave entrance.

"I thought you've become smarter, dog-shit." Kouga laughed and stepped outside, but not before receiving a warning from Kagome and Sango to be careful and that they were going to attack at any possible opportunity.

"And I thought you had learned your lesson." Inuyasha snarled and not wasting anymore time charged at the wolf.

Without his shards Kouga was close to helpless against Inuyasha. The hanyou knew that and thought that the wolf demon wasn't a big challenge. Kouga also attacked. He jumped in the air and tried to hit Inuyasha in the head. For a moment he thought he did it but then Inuyasha hit his leg and he fell on the ground. A loud crack was heard as Inuyasha's fist collided with Kouga's leg and everyone could tell that that leg was broken.

"I told you that if you struggle it'll hurt more." the hanyou said and walked toward the fallen demon.

Just then he heard the demon exterminator's battle cry. He spun around and caught her wrist just when she was going to stab him with her sword. He gripped and flexed her hand so that she screamed and dropped her sword. Inuyasha caught the falling sword with his other hand and threw it at Kirara, who was heading toward him from behind Sango. The sword made a big gash on the cat demon's back and Kirara fell on the ground, transforming to her smaller form. Then he just threw the demon exterminator at the cave entrance, toward the other girl who was running toward him. Sango hit Kagome and they both fell on the ground.

"Sango-chan, are you alright?" Kagome asked worried.

"My hand is broken." the older girl said through gritted teeth and held her injured right hand to her chest. Kirara slowly stumbled to her and she took her in her good arm. "We'll be ok. Go help Kouga."

Kagome turned her head to her demon friend and stood up with her bow ready. Inuyasha had kneeled down and was holding Kouga's throat with his left arm, his right one raised in the air ready to strike at any moment. Kagome was just about to release an arrow, which was aimed for that right hand, when Sesshoumaru's green whip wrapped around that hand and pulled Inuyasha away from Kouga.

"Get them inside and this time don't come out!" the dog demon growled at the girl and she hurriedly obeyed.

Inuyasha rolled on the ground and tried to get free from the whip but Sesshoumaru just pulled harder. Then suddenly the whip loosened and was pulled away allowing Inuyasha to stand up. But then it wrapped around his neck and Sesshoumaru pulled the hanyou toward him to give him a hard punch in the stomach. Inuyasha doubled over just to be hit in the face by Sesshoumaru's knee and straighten up again. His brother loosened the whip and his hand headed toward the hanyou's chest.

Having heard Kagome where the shards were he didn't want to loose this opportunity and dug his claws in Inuyasha's flesh. The hanyou pulled back, not carrying about the claws in his chest, and now Sesshoumaru was holding the front of his haori. Somehow Inuyasha whirled inside of the haori and slopped out of it. He then jumped away, leaving a very pissed off dog demon with only a bloody cloth in his hand.

As Inuyasha landed the front of his shirt hung in shreds and it could be seen how the wound quickly healed. Sesshoumaru cursed and Inuyasha smirked. By that time everybody were at the cave exit and saw everything. Kagome stood outside of the cave and seeing that things weren't going well she made a decision. She dropped her bow and stayed only with the arrow in her hand. The others looked at her confused but she didn't pay attention to them.

"Sorry, guys." she smiled and held the arrow in front of her. "I'm the cause of all this mess and I'll fix it." with that the arrow started glowing and she dug it in the ground.

Being a monk and knowing what a Miko was capable of Miroku immediately knew what Kagome was doing and tried to go to her but it was already too late. As the arrow's tip dug in the ground a blue barrier appeared in front of the cave entrance, blocking it. Kagome stood up and mentally thanked Kaede for teaching her this. She ignored her friends' protests and took her bow.

Sesshoumaru threw the red haori aside and drew Tokijin out. Inuyasha smirked and shook his head. "Again with that sword?" he said mockingly and cracked his fingers. He was just about to attack the dog demon when he noticed an arrow flying toward him and barely avoided it. "Ah, good." he smirked. "I was hoping to have some fun with you. Don't get in my way until I deal with him, ok?" with that he jumped toward his brother.

This time Sesshoumaru was ready. He met Inuyasha's right fist with Tokijin and dropping the sword managed to hit him in the face so hard that he flew a few meters back. For the first time since the fight had started Kagome really felt they had a chance, well if we don't count the try with the rosary spell, but Sesshoumaru wasn't easily fooled.

The moment Inuyasha hit the ground he was up again. 'That's it!' he growled and stood in front of his brother. He's had enough, this wasn't fun anymore. He wanted his shard and it was time to get it. 'The dog dies now!'

Suddenly Sesshoumaru and Kagome felt Inuyasha's youki grow stronger and they saw a faint glow in his chest. The hanyou's claws grew longer and the pupils of his eyes turned green, the white of his eyes turned red and a whirl of youki started to form around him. Kagome's eyes widened – she had seen something like that before. For the first time in his life Sesshoumaru was stunned and speechless – Inuyasha was transforming to a dog demon's original form. The others just watched with horror.

"I will drink your blood." Inuyasha's growling voice echoed in everybody's ears.

'No...' Kagome shook her head and dropped her bow and arrow. 'This can't be happening...'

In Naraku's castle the evil hanyou was watching everything in Kanna's mirror. He couldn't believe his eyes – one of his enemies was going to destroy his very own allies and friends. There couldn't be a better day for him. His laugh filled the dark room and Kagura knew things weren't going well for her.

TBC


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Inuyasha had made a big mistake by not finishing his opponents fast enough and he knew that. By being 'slow' he had given Sesshoumaru the opportunity to study his attacks and although the dog demon was hurt he was still a formidable enemy. But the hanyou had more to show and the result was Sesshoumaru's shocked and stunned condition.

"This can't be possible!" Jaken was shouting from inside the cave as the others were just staring. "He is just a hanyou!"

'I am not a hanyou anymore.' Inuyasha told himself with disgust and growled. The whirl of youki around him became stronger, his teeth became sharper and his face started to change.

Kagome felt her whole body shaking. If someone had told her that something like this was going to happen she would've never believed. Now she still couldn't believe it and was desperately praying to whoever was hearing her all this to be just a bad dream. But it seemed that nobody was listening. She looked at her friends, and then at Sesshoumaru – they were all shocked and stunned just like her, well except Jaken who was in panic.

The sight of Sesshoumaru in this condition was best for a picture and Inuyasha seemed to enjoy what he was causing. Suddenly his words echoed in her ears 'I will drink your blood.' and something seemed to snap inside her – in situation like this instead of fear she felt anger raising inside her. 'No, Inuyasha.' Kagome said to herself firmly. 'I will not let you kill your friends and brother.' she bent down and picked up her arrow. 'Ok. I may die but I'm going to stop you... Inuyasha...'

Gripping the arrow tightly Kagome ran toward the transforming hanyou. Her friends yelled to her not to go near him but she didn't listen and continued running. All that noise caught Sesshoumaru's attention and he seemed to snap out of his shock but it was too late for him to stop the girl. "Kagome," he yelled after her, "stay away from him!"

Although it was a miracle to hear her name from Sesshoumaru's mouth, Kagome didn't pay attention to him – she had made her decision. She was determined not to run away, sure that deep inside his heart Inuyasha remembered her and wasn't going to hurt her. She would do everything to bring him back, after all she had promised to be with him forever. This forever couldn't be so short, right?

"Inuyasha!" she yelled at him just a meter away from him and he just looked at her. The whirl of youki swallowed her and Inuyasha reached with one clawed hand to grab her throat. "You want my blood? I'll give you some!" with that she gripped the arrow tip with her left hand and violently pulled the arrow away from her hand.

Inuyasha pulled his hand back as blood from Kagome's cut palm flew in the air. A few drops landed on his face and the smell of the blood hit his nose. For some reason, which he didn't know or couldn't remember, it was so familiar and intoxicating that he felt dizzy. The youki around him immediately calmed down, his eyes turned to red and his claws shrunk.

When she had cut her palm Kagome had dropped the arrow and held her hurt hand close to her chest, trying to stop the bleeding. She had closed her eyes and waited for Inuyasha to at least attack her, if not kill her. But then she felt the whirl of youki disappear and Jaken's comments about what was happening. She opened her eyes and met Inuyasha's.

Inuyasha stared at her in disbelief – he hadn't expected something like this. And the smell of her blood... It was becoming more familiar with every passing second, the same thing was happening with the girl's scent too. He looked at her pained look and felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart. He reached with his right hand to his left cheek and whipping a drop of blood held it in front of his face.

Kagome watched his actions with great interest. She was kind of happy seeing that he hasn't completely forgotten her, but that wasn't enough. She saw a faint glow in his chest. 'With that demon side... It will always corrupt the Shikon shards. I have to do something...' she thought and while Inuyasha was still inspecting the drop of blood on his fingers she stepped closer to him.

Sesshoumaru gulped. 'That girl... She is completely insane.' he thought and quickly glanced at the others. They were still behind the barrier and were like hypnotized of what Kagome was doing. 'But she has more chance of bringing him back to his senses.'

Inuyasha saw her move closer to him but didn't react. Somehow he didn't feel threatened from her and just watched what she was going to do. Kagome reached with her hands toward his chest, wincing as her hurt palm touched him. She felt him shiver and he looked at her wide-eyed.

'I...I know her...' Inuyasha thought and his eyes seemed to widen more. 'K-Ka...' he didn't know why but he suddenly felt a need to remember her name. His head was starting to hurt but he still couldn't say the name.

Kagome didn't dare to look at his face. She kept her eyes in level with his chest, where she could see the glow of the Shikon shards. 'Please remember...' she thought and closed her eyes, then moved even closer and leaned her head on his chest. She felt his heart beat and breathing quicken and smiled.

Only Sesshoumaru, being right in front of Inuyasha, saw how his brother's eyes suddenly flashed in gold and after he blinked a few times they remained like that. The dog demon could smell his brother's scent start to turn back to normal but he could also feel that Kagome's strength was weakening. 'I she doesn't hold on he'll transform again.' he thought and prepared to attack, just in case.

A strong pulse ran through Inuyasha's body and his claws shrunk, with the next pulse his teeth turned back to normal and finally the purple marks on his cheeks disappeared. Kagome opened her eyes and saw that the glow in his chest had become purer. She slowly lifted her head and saw his golden eyes intently staring at her. She smiled at him and he looked at her as if he was frightened.

"Y-You..." he stammered out and Kagome felt him stiffen.

"Yes, Inuyasha, it's me..." she said to him and pulled slightly back.

"B-But y-you..." Inuyasha continued stammering. "You died... I..." he gripped her forearms and tried to push her away, afraid that she was some kind of hallucination.

"No, Inuyasha!" Kagome held his shirt tightly despite the pain in her hand. "It's me, I didn't die..."

"No!" Inuyasha yelled and pushed her back.

Kagome fell on the ground a few meters away from him. She saw him make a few steps back holding his head and growling at the obvious pain he was feeling. She stood up and tried to go to him again but was stooped by a hand on her right forearm. "Sesshoumaru, let me go." she turned to him and tried to free herself.

"No, stay away from him." the dog demon said firmly and pulled her back with him, despite her struggling. "You did what you could. It's up to him now." he said and that made Kagome to stop wriggling and look at Inuyasha.

He gripped his head tighter, trying to ease the pain but instead it was growing stronger. It was because of the girl – before she interfered it didn't hurt so much, there was only a dull pain in the chest and something in the back of his head that was telling him that he wasn't supposed to do such things. And until now he could easily ignore it. Suddenly he found himself wanting to hold on to the pain, if after it he would get some answers. He felt a strong pulse coming from his chest and bending his head he finally saw the faint glow of the Shikon shards.

As Inuyasha looked at his chest he stooped growling and dropped his hands to his sides. This made the others freeze – has he remembered or has he managed to hold on against Kagome's purifying power and corrupted the shards again. Nobody could be sure.

'This can't be all...' Kagome thought as she looked at the hanyou. 'There's more I can do for him. To remove the shards he has to have something to do it for.' with that she pulled her hand violently and Sesshoumaru was caught unprepared. She managed to free herself from him and ran toward Inuyasha.

'Stubborn girl.' the dog demon thought and was just about to go after her when another thought ran thought his mind. 'Maybe there's more she could do for him...' he said to himself and remained on his place.

Kagome was in front of Inuyasha again. She held his shirt and shook him slightly. "Inuyasha snap out of it." she almost yelled at him but he wasn't moving. "Inuyasha, do you want to remember? Do you want to see me again?" she asked but still got no response. Then she decided to try something else. "Who am I, Inuyasha?"

At her last question the hanyou's head snapped up to look at her. 'Who is she...' he asked himself and felt the pain in his chest grow. By now he had noticed that she, more than anything, was making the pain grow stronger. Somehow he knew that she must've meant much for him and she had died, but what was her name – he couldn't remember. So, it was obvious that she was the key.

"Her name..." Inuyasha murmured and his hands started shaking. Something inside him was raging and he desperately wanted to let it go.

Kagome heard his words and smiled at him. "Yes, Inuyasha, my name. What is my name?" she asked and reached with her uninjured hand toward his left cheek. She caressed his cheek and pushed herself on her tip toes. She moved her lips, noiselessly saying her own name and kissed him.

Inuyasha's eyes widened, just like everybody else's, and another pulse came from the shards. He felt warm and at ease for the first time in days. And now he realized just how much he missed that feeling. It was so overwhelming and pleasant that he lost himself and kissed back the girl in front of him.

As she pulled back the pain returned but now he knew what to do. He pushed her away, again, and growled at her to stay away. Kagome didn't want to listen to him and wanted to go to him again but then she stopped in shock of what she was seeing. Inuyasha made a step back and raised his right hand in front of his chest. His breathing was heavy and ragged and he cast one last look toward her before digging his claws in his chest.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried and held her hands on her mouth but she knew better than to go near him at this moment.

The hanyou doubled over in pain and dug his claws deeper. Finally he reached the shard – the seven shards had merged together in his body and now it was easier to take them out. Pulling his hand away, along with the shard, a single name ran through his mind – Kagome. The shard flew in the air and fell on the ground not too far away from him. He was slightly bent down, his arms hanging to the sides, blood dripping from his right hand and chest.

Kagome still didn't dare to go to him and Sesshoumaru was still ready to fight. Finally Inuyasha lifted his head and his golden eyes found Kagome's brown. "Kagome..." he said and made a step forward.

The girl didn't move from her place – she just couldn't believe that he had remembered her and everything was over. Then with his next step forward Inuyasha's legs gave out and he fell on his knees. He almost cried her name making her to run to him and falling on her knees in front of him, embrace him. She held him tight and desperately tried not to cry – after all he's been through she didn't want to upset him more.

Inuyasha buried his face in her neck and inhaled her scent deeply. "You're alive, Kagome..." he was saying and still couldn't believe it. His arms were wrapped around her and he was holding her so tight like it was no tomorrow. At this moment he realized something – he didn't want to let her go, ever.

He felt a wave of feelings and emotions and they were so overwhelming that he thought he was going to cry. And for the first time in his life he could distinguish every one of his feelings and emotions, for the first time since he had met Kagome he knew what he felt for her – love. He could finally separate her from Kikyou and that made him hold her even tighter. He wanted to tell her but he couldn't make himself to talk. He just stayed in her arms and for now that was enough.

Sesshoumaru watched his brother and his girl and shook his head. "I can't watch this." he said and walked toward the Shikon shard. After taking it he went to the cave. Jaken was overexcited that his master was alright and was making too much noise, while the others were trying to make him shut up. Sesshoumaru sighed and threw the shard at the barrier. It disappeared and the shard hit Jaken's head, effectively silencing him.

"Let's go." the dog demon said and turned to leave, followed by Ah-Un and the still dizzy from the hit Jaken, who was begging his master to wait for him and stumbling all the way. Rin said her goodbye to the others and followed her companions.

Miroku took the shard from the ground and placed it inside his robes. Then his eyes turned toward his two friends, who were still holding each other in their arms. Kouga made a disgusted sound and turned away, which only made Sango and Shippo smile.

"What should we do now, Houshi-sama?" Sango asked and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I suggest we leave them alone for a while." the monk said and turned to look at Kouga.

"Alright." the wolf demon sighed. "I guess I don't have chances with Kagome anymore." he said and followed the others inside the cave.

Kagome and Inuyasha stayed on the clearing for a while and whenever Kagome tried to make him let go of her so she could see his wound he was growling and tightening his hold on her. "Come on, Inuyasha, we can't stay like this forever." she pleaded with him and he nuzzled her neck in response. Suddenly she felt something wet on her skin and was just about to say something when Inuyasha pulled away.

"Don't say anything." he said, his voice a little shaky. He turned his head slightly away and wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"You know what?" Kagome said and smiled a little. "We both have to be sorry." that made him to look at her a little surprised and confused and she placed a hand on his cheek. "I for leaving you and you for not waiting me to return. But you're forgiven, 'cause you're an idiot." she laughed at her last sentence and to her surprise Inuyasha smiled too.

"A big one." he said and sighed, happy to be able to look at her again.

TBC


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Inuyasha and Kagome sat in front of each other for a while, just looking at one another. Kagome smiled at the hanyou and he found himself returning the gesture. Something was different about him, the way he looked at her, and she couldn't help but notice. She knew that look, but he didn't show it often – only if she had been in danger, or when he was trying to make stay her out of danger. Those were the times when she truly saw that he cared for her, in one way or another.

Now Inuyasha was showing something that he would usually consider as a weakness. He was well aware of that and could see the slightly surprised look that Kagome was giving him. And for the first time since he had met her and come to care for her he was honest with himself – he liked it when she saw that 'weak', vulnerable side of his personality. Involuntary his smile widened and seeing Kagome's utter shock he started laughing.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome frowned at him but soon smiled too. "Stop making fun of me!" she said well aware of why he was laughing.

"S-Sorry..." he said breathlessly and held one hand on his mouth.

"That's better." the girl said and moved closer to him. "Let's see that wound now." she reached with her hands to move away the hanging shreds of his shirt.

Inuyasha removed the hand from his mouth and looked down at his chest. There was blood all over him; actually nobody could tell that his shirt had been white. Had this even been a shirt? Now it was soaked with his blood and hanging in shreds on his chest. When he was free from the ruined cloth he saw Kagome frown. "What is it?" he asked and she continued to look at the wound.

"It's too bloody." she said and was about to touch his chest but then decided not to. "We'll have to wash you clean and then see the damages." she then looked at him and smiled when she saw his worried expression. "But I don't think it's serious."

"Well, I don't feel it anymore." the hanyou shook off his worry and shrugged. "It's probably healed."

"Maybe, but I want to be sure." after saying that Kagome stood up and went to pick up the haori, which was lying a few meters away.

Unknown to the couple outside the others were watching them. Although Kouga had said that he knew that he didn't have any chances with Kagome, he felt like he was going to explode. He couldn't help but be angry with Inuyasha. The hanyou had taken his shards and his woman! And he felt really bad for loosing to him. Actually he was ashamed that a full demon like him, the wolf demons' prince, had lost to a half dog demon.

'I wonder if he'd agree to keep this a secret...' Kouga thought miserably as he watched Inuyasha and Kagome separate from their hug. 'They actually look good together.' he added and scratched his head.

"Kouga, are you alright?" Miroku asked, seeing his thoughtful expression, and the others also looked at him.

"Yeah." the wolf demon said and they turned toward the two outside again.

Inuyasha and Kagome were talking and when she removed his shirt to see his wound everybody grimaced at the amount of blood on his chest. Just now they took their time to look at the hanyou better. Although he hadn't received any serious injures in the fight, to their eyes he was simply a bloody mess. His ears were all bloody, his claws too, his hair was soaked with blood, we already know about his chest.

"It must be because of the transformation." Kouga answered everybody's question of why their friend looked so bad. "It must've been too much for his body." he added and the others slowly nodded in agreement.

Kagome was just heading back to Inuyasha with his haori when he started to stand up and wanted to say something. "Inuyasha, stay down." the girl screamed and pointed at him.

Inuyasha looked down and saw that the rosary's beads were glowing. He was half up already and quickly lifted his head to look at Kagome wide-eyed. "Hell no..." he said and just a second later he crashed face-first on the ground, forming a pretty Inuyasha-shaped crater.

"That was bad." Shippo said and looked at his friend's broken form with sympathy, while Kagome was running toward him.

"He deserved it this time." Miroku said and the others nodded.

"It came a little late, though." Sango added.

"But we can have some fun with him, can't we?" Kouga said and stood up to exit the cave.

"I don't like the sound of this." Miroku said and the others followed the wolf demon out of the cave.

As Inuyasha was lying on the ground, growling, Kagome was leaning above him and trying to pull him up. Although it wasn't her fault this time she was apologizing to him and he was trying to tell her that it was ok. The others came to them and helped her sit the dazed hanyou up.

"Hey, dog but, you are really stupid." Kouga laughed and Inuyasha desperately tried to focus his vision to see the hated wolf, but all he could do was growl at no one in particular. "Just when I thought Kagome was history for me you make her sit you and thus give me new hopes!"

"Just wait 'till..." Inuyasha growled and tried to stand up but Kagome pushed him back down.

"Inuyasha." she threatened and he immediately shut up and remained on his place. Although he was pretty uncoordinated he managed to cross his hands in front of his chest, which was the least he could do to save his dignity. Then Kagome turned to the wolf demon. "Kouga-kun, please don't fight with him." hearing that he gave her a disappointed look. "At least wait until he gets better."

"For you, Kagome, I would wait even after the end of the world." Kouga said and held her hands in his. An annoyed 'Feh' was heard from the hanyou and the wolf demon smirked. "Anyway, Kagome, I'll be going now..."

"Wait, Kouga-kun." Kagome said and he looked at her questioningly. She took the small bottle where she usually kept her Shikon shards and took the one that was inside out. "Take this."

"But, Kagome..." the wolf demon wanted to protest – he wasn't going to accept gifts. If he was to have another Shikon shard he would earn it in a fair fight. But with Naraku having all the rest that wasn't possible anymore, was it? He could hear the low growl that was coming from Inuyasha and thought that he could at lest make him angry. However, he didn't know that the hanyou was growling because he wanted him to take the shard.

"Take it, Kouga-kun, if you have this it would be more difficult for Naraku to get them all." Kagome continued. "And it would be easier for us to predict his moves."

"She is right, Kouga." Miroku said and Sango nodded.

"Alright then." the wolf demon grinned and took the Shikon shard. He then put it in his right leg. "Well, I'll really be going now. Take care and don't let that puppy of yours go anywhere alone, ok?" after that he quickly ran off in order to save himself from the raging hanyou, who received another sit to stay quiet.

"Be reasonable, Inuyasha." Kagome was crouching next to the hanyou's head and was stroking his hair. "You have to be thankful that he wasn't angry with you."

"She's right, Inuyasha." Miroku said and held back a smile, while Sango was doing the same and was holding Shippo's mouth in order to silence his laughing.

Just as the spell wore off Inuyasha bolted up and growled at the monk. "She's right!" the hanyou imitated him. "Shut the fuck up, bouzu!"

"You shut up and let's go." Kagome said and taking his right hand pulled him after her. The others followed them and started to go down the slope of the mountain.

The sun still hadn't risen when they got down, so they decided to make camp until morning came. They found a nice small clearing, shadowed with big trees and a spring nearby. They made a camp and started a fire. While the others took their places around the fire Kagome dragged a very flushed and unwilling hanyou toward the hot spring.

Once they were at the spring Kagome made Inuyasha sit on the ground. She tore off a part of her left sleeve and wetted it in the water. She then carefully started to clean his chest. Inuyasha watched her with great interest. There sure was a lot of blood but he didn't feel like there was any wound anymore. After a few minutes he was clean and Kagome looked first at his chest and then at him.

"There's no wound." she said surprised.

"I told you it was ok, didn't I?" the hanyou said triumphantly and started to get up. Although he didn't show it this was starting to worry him – he wasn't supposed to heal so fast, there had to be something else.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Kagome pushed him back down, shaking him out of his thoughts, and he looked at her in confusion. "You need a bath..."

Inuyasha cursed mentally – he had hoped to get away only with his chest cleaned, knowing that Kagome would probably want to stay with him while he bathed. "I hate you." he muttered while removing his pants and entering the warm waters of the spring, while Kagome was standing aside with her back on him.

"I know, I know..." she smiled. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." he said and sunk himself in the waters so that only his head was out.

Kagome turned to look at him – he was sitting in the far side of the spring and she was sure that not the warmth of the waters was making his face so red. She felt herself blushing while she sat on the shore and wetted her injured hand. She winced a little in pain as she started to wash the dried blood.

"Does it hurt?" Inuyasha asked and raised himself a little.

"Yeah." Kagome nodded and continued cleaning her hand.

"Well, it serves you right." he said and she looked at him surprised. "You shouldn't have been so reckless." he turned his head aside to avoid her eyes and missed to see her smile – she was happy that his behavior was turning back to normal.

TBC


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Kagome had cleaned her injured palm from the blood and was now bandaging it with her other sleeve, which she had torn off too. The whole time she kept her look away from Inuyasha, concentrating on the heat she felt in her cheeks. She couldn't help but think about the night when she decided to give herself to him – she had voluntary undressed in front of him. At the thought of herself and Inuyasha naked her blush deepened.

Unknown to the girl on the shore, the hanyou was intently staring at her. He saw every single shade of red that her face turned into and his interest grew even more. What was she thinking about? She more than obviously was embarrassed, hell he was too! He raced through his memories trying to remember if she had seen him naked before – maybe one or two times...

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Unconsciously he had dropped his look to the water and when he heard her he quickly lifted his head. "Yea?" he asked, blinking at her.

"Everything ok?" she asked, her voice suddenly filled with concern.

"Yes, I'm fine." he said and gave her a nervous smile.

"Alright then." she returned the smile and started to stand up. "I'll leave you to bathe now."

At first Inuyasha didn't react. He was actually relieved that she was going back to the camp, leaving him in peace. But as she turned to leave he felt a sudden rush of unexplainable panic and fear and a painful tightness in his chest. "No, Kagome!" he almost screamed and stood up in the water.

Hearing his worried voice the girl immediately spun around to face... "Sit!" she screamed at the completely naked Inuyasha in front of her, closing her eyes and bringing her hands to her face.

The poor hanyou splashed in the water and hit the bottom of the spring. Realizing what she had done Kagome rushed toward the shore, worriedly calling his name and apologizing. Although Inuyasha was still dazed from his meeting with the ground he knew perfectly well why Kagome had panicked like that. So, as soon as the spell wore off the only thing that he showed above the surface was his head.

"Thank God, you're alright, Inuyasha." Kagome sighed. She was just going to enter the water when she saw him. "You startled me." she said, her face reddening with every passing second of thinking about what she had just seen.

"Sorry..." the hanyou said, the color of his own face matching hers. "I just wanted you to stay."

"Um... Ok." the girl said, nervously gripping her hands. "I-I'll go over there." she pointed at a nearby tree and Inuyasha nodded. "I'll sit behind it." after that last sentence she waited for another nod of approval from Inuyasha and hurried toward the tree.

At the camp the others were just sitting around the fire, yawning once in a while. Miroku and Sango were sitting side by side; Shippo and Kirara were snuggled close to one another, slowly drifting off to sleep at the opposite side of the fire.

"Houshi-sama, are you awake?" Sango asked weakly, adjusting herself more comfortably as she was leaned on his left shoulder.

"Mhm..." was Miroku's response. Despite the closeness of the demon exterminator, surprisingly even for him, he hadn't made even an attempt to grope her. He was just too tired.

"There's something that's bothering me..." she said with her weak voice again.

"What is it?" the monk asked equally weakly.

"The shouki crystal... What happened to it?" the demon exterminator voiced the question she had been asking herself since Inuyasha turned back to normal.

"I've been thinking about that too." Miroku said. "I didn't see Inuyasha remove it."

"Maybe the Shikon shards destroyed it when Kagome-chan purified them?" Sango suggested.

"It is very possible." the monk said and sighed. "We'll have to talk with Inuyasha about that."

"Yea..." the young woman said yawning and closing her eyes.

When Inuyasha and Kagome returned to the camp, everybody were sleeping. The two sat by the fire and Kagome rubbed her arms trying to warm herself. Inuyasha watched her with a guilty look and there was a good reason for it. When he had gotten out of the spring and redressed with his still wet clothes, Kagome had gone to him just when he had dried himself. I hope you can well imagine Inuyasha on his hands and knees, shaking all the water off of himself. Kagome wasn't so wet but still, he had really chilled her.

"We'll have to work on your dog habits." the girl said and sighed.

"Dog habits..." Inuyasha muttered under his breath and removing his haori threw it over her head.

Kagome was a little surprised by such an action from him but it also made her happy. "Hey!" she laughed while removing the cloth from her head.

"I'm not gonna say it." the hanyou snapped and knowing what he meant Kagome smiled to herself. He was going to continue but she interrupted him.

"For the past few hours I've apologized more than I have in my entire life." she said trying to imitate his voice.

"I guess so..." Inuyasha looked at her slightly confused. "If you could tell me what an hour is..."

Kagome was sure that he knew what an hour is but he was forgiven for having forgotten, because he was funny. She laughed and was just going to explain, or rather remind him, when an annoyed grunt was heard and she and the hanyou turned to look at Miroku. Just now they noticed the way he and the demon exterminator were sitting side by side.

"Some people are trying to rest here." the monk said and effectively silenced his noisy friends.

A light wind blew around the group and being only with his pants on, Inuyasha involuntary shivered. He sighed and glanced at Kagome, who was expectantly looking at him. He quickly turned away and heard an annoyed sigh from the girl. Yes, he was cold, actually he was freezing, and she knew that. After everything he had been through, it was understandable that his body was weakened.

"Inuyasha, are you cold?" Kagome asked after noticing him shiver again.

"N-No." he stammered, a little nervous of what she might say next.

"Why don't you come closer to the fire?" she asked and patted the grassy ground at her right side.

Inuyasha eyed her suspiciously and reluctantly went to sit beside her. He couldn't hold back the content sigh that escaped his lips when he felt the warmth of the fire. But soon enough he shivered again, after all his hair was not enough to keep his back warm and the fire became useless. Kagome looked at him again and saw that he was slightly shaking. Shaking her head she unwrapped the haori from herself and moved closer to Inuyasha.

"K-Kagome..." he stammered out and more than everything wanted to run away. What was all that panic about? First when she wanted to go back to the camp and now when she wanted to be close to him. And why the hell did he feel so embarrassed all of a sudden? Usually he was able to control these things but now...

"Stay down." Kagome commanded after seeing that he was going to stand up, and he froze on his place. She then sat next to him and wrapped the haori around them both. "That's a good boy." she giggled.

"I'm not a dog." the hanyou snapped and adjusted the haori better around them. He moved his left hand and placed it behind Kagome letting it rest on her waist. With this hand away Kagome leaned on his left side and to steady herself she lifted her left hand and let it rest on his chest.

'What am I doing?' she screamed in her mind and noticing the familiar heat rise in her face, she wandered if Inuyasha could feel it, since she was so close to him. Suddenly she was aware of the strong and quickened heartbeat under her ear and hand. She sighed in relief – not only she felt embarrassed by the situation. But she was also very comfortable in this position and soon became happy as she felt Inuyasha's stiffened hand – the one on her waist, relax and hold her tighter.

"It's all their fault..." the hanyou mumbled under his breath after a while of peaceful silence. He was angry beyond belief because of his incapability to control his emotions. After receiving an approving 'Mhm' from Kagome he decided to continue. "Those stupid Shikon shards... I hate them even more than Naraku!" he almost growled and got another sleepy 'Mhm.' "Well, maybe not..."

"Mhm..." Kagome mumbled again and sighed deeply, her breath making Inuyasha shiver.

"Kagome..." he looked at her but this time she didn't answer.

"She's asleep, you idiot." Sango's voice startled him and he looked at her. "Humans need that from time to time, you know." she said and deciding that this was enough to keep him quiet she closed her eyes again.

Inuyasha sighed and looked at Kagome for the last time before resting his head on top of hers and closing his eyes. He couldn't help but think over what had happened to him. One troubling thought kept appearing in his mind – ever since he had removed the Shikon shards from his body there was a strange heaviness in his chest. It had actually become really painful when Kagome wanted to leave him to bathe, back at the hot spring, but now that she was so close to him the pain was gone. Now he felt calm and warm and just couldn't think about this anymore, at least not now...

But there was someone else that was very concerned about what was happening to Inuyasha. Naraku was sitting in his dark room, staring at the wall across. Kagura, Kohaku and Hakudoshi were sitting a little aside, expectantly watching their master. Although he seemed to be calm and cold as always, he was actually enraged. That pathetic and filthy hanyou – Inuyasha, had overpowered him.

After much thinking the evil hanyou had come to the conclusion that it wasn't Kagome's purifying powers that destroyed the shouki crystal, but Inuyasha's youki. And on top of the humiliation and the shame of such a defeat, the shouki crystal wasn't really destroyed – it had 'melted' inside Inuyasha's body and he had absorbed it.

'This could result in only one thing...' Naraku thought and fisted his right hand, in witch he was holding the almost completed Shikon no Tama. 'Now the connection he had made with the help of the Shikon shards is permanent.'

TBC


	20. Chapter Twenty

The wind was blowing in her face; ruffling her hair and making her close her eyes more tightly. She felt like flying, jumping lightly in the sky and then landing softly on the ground again. It felt too good to be real and despite the cold wind Kagome didn't open her eyes or try to hide her flushed face. Then she felt the strong arms that were holding her tighten their grip on her and pull her closer to someone's warm bare chest. Without thinking Kagome snuggled closer to that person.

"Is Kagome still asleep, Inuyasha?" she heard Shippo's voice but didn't make a sign to be awake.

"No." the hanyou said, his voice coming just from above her. "She's faking it."

Realization struck Kagome and her eyes shot open. She was being carried by Inuyasha – he was holding her bridal style, running trough the forest. In front of her she could see his bare chest – his haori was still on her. Although he had said that he knew that she was awake, Kagome remained still and didn't say anything. She looked to his right side and saw Sango, Miroku and Shippo riding on Kirara, whose injured back was covered with the monk's purple outer robes.

"Kagome..." she heard Inuyasha say, and lifted her head to look at him in the face. "Will you stop that?" he asked without looking at her and she saw that his cheeks were slightly red.

"Stop what?" she asked a little confused. He only made a nervous sound in the back of his throat and as Kagome looked at what she could possibly be doing, she became aware that she was lightly stroking his chest with her left hand's fingers. "S-Sorry..." she almost squeaked, pulling her hand away and turning her head to the side so he couldn't see her red face.

Inuyasha visibly relaxed and glanced at the girl in his arms for a moment. A small smile formed on his lips when he saw her slightly flushed cheeks. Quiet chuckles were heard from his friends but he ignored them and just ran faster. His smile turned to a content smirk when they started calling him to slow down.

"How long is it to the village?" Kagome asked after some time.

"We'll be there tomorrow by noon." the hanyou answered. "Kagome..." he said hesitantly.

"What is it?" she asked absently.

"Don't you want to ride on my back?" he asked quietly and the girl frowned, not understanding the discomfort in his voice.

"Um..." she didn't really have anything to say at the moment. Actually she felt better riding the way she was now.

"Ok, forget it." the hanyou finally couldn't stand it anymore and was close to loosing his temper. "J-Just stop it."

Once again Kagome looked at her hands. This time she was holding a strand of his hair and was making small circles, again on his chest. "Oh my God, Inuyasha..." she said nervously, releasing his hair and pulling her hands away. "I don't know what's wrong with me tod..."

"Inuyasha, watch out!" three worried voices were heard and the hanyou snapped his head up.

Kagome screamed as she saw the really big tree they were surely going to hit. Surprisingly, Inuyasha had the time not only to curse but to avoid the tree too. He stopped behind it and put Kagome down. She looked at him guiltily and the others just didn't know what this was all about, so they decided to stay quiet. Without saying a word Inuyasha turned his back on her and crouched. Kagome climbed on his back and he stood up ready to go.

"I am so very sorry, Inuyasha." the girl said sweetly. "Next time..."

"If you don't keep your hands to yourself there won't be a next time." the hanyou snapped and was off, leaving the rest of his friends to stare at each other blankly.

By nightfall the group was at a small village. In the richest man's house was really noisy this evening. The whole family and the servants were gathered in the main room where a young monk was performing demon extermination. A large statue of Buddha was at the far side of the room. Suddenly the monk took out a scroll and threw it at the statue. He said a quick prayer and turned to the people behind him.

"Everything is alright." Miroku said, smiling widely. "The demon is no longer in this world."

"Thank you very much, Houshi-sama." an about 40-years old man bowed at him and the rest of the people followed his example.

Later that evening in the nicest room in the house were sitting the monk, two girls, a small kitsune and a young man with dog ears. In front of each of them was their dinner and behind them were their beds. The monk was obviously very proud of himself for saving the house from a demon and the dog-eared boy was angrily muttering something under his breath.

"Oh come on, Inuyasha." Miroku said and grinned. "I found a place for us to stay after all."

"I will never get used to your ways of finding shelter." the hanyou grumbled, while putting on a new shirt.

"There was really a demon this time, Inuyasha." Kagome said and took her cup of tea.

"The only good thing is that I have a shirt now." he said and glared at her.

Kagome bit her bottom lip and didn't say anything – just started drinking from her tea to hide her slightly red face. Miroku and Sango exchanged knowing looks and the monk mentally smirked – who would've known that Kagome had it in her. In Miroku's lecherous mind the girl's stroking of Inuyasha's chest wasn't even close to innocent or an accident, like Sango had said earlier.

When everyone was ready with their dinner, they went to sleep. Kagome saw Inuyasha lay down on his bed and relaxed, closing her eyes and falling asleep. After he was sure that his friends were all sleeping Inuyasha carefully and quietly stood up and went outside. Their room had a door to the back garden and he didn't stop until he reached the small pond at the farthest side.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Inuyasha hissed through gritted teeth and fell on his knees, holding his left hand on his chest and supporting himself with his right hand. He breathed hard and stared at his reflection in the water.

He stayed still for a while. The moon light made his huddled form look strange and creepy. His hair was hanging at the sides of his head, most of it reaching the water and blurring his reflection. 'It hurts...' he thought and pressed his other hand to his chest, doubling over even more. 'Why does it hurt so much...'

The pain was unbearable and more than everything Inuyasha wanted to pass out, but he wasn't. Right now he was even ready to go to a really big rock and smack his head in it, but he couldn't move. He felt like something big and sharp was stabbing him in the chest, and the pain was spreading through his body in waves. Those waves were gradually getting stronger and lasted more and more time. He wanted to scream but no sound came out of his mouth.

Suddenly he felt a strong pulse run through his body. A familiar scent drifted to his nose and an image of Naraku flashed in front of his eyes. The pain subsided a little and Inuyasha took a deep breath. He felt the same pulse again and another image of Naraku appeared. The hanyou was left in shock and confusion. How the hell was he able to see him? Wait a minute...

"The shouki crystal..." Inuyasha rasped. Just now he remembered about it – he hadn't removed it and most likely he had absorbed it in his body. But that pain... "Kagome..." he said and desperately tried to stand up and go back to the house.

'She makes the pain go away...' he thought as he crawled toward her. The closer he was getting to her the least his chest hurt. Finally he laid next to her on her bed, moved under the covers and embraced her from behind. It wasn't long before the pain was completely gone and he slowly fell asleep.

Despite all the mental and physical exhaustion, Inuyasha didn't sleep deep. Sometime during the night he felt Kagome start to stir. His eyes immediately opened and he held his breath, waiting for her reaction. He just hoped not to startle her, because if that happened he surely wouldn't live to see the morning. Everything else, whatever it could be, he thought he could handle.

Kagome slowly started to wake up. She felt something warm and solid behind her back and strong arms were wrapped around her waist. She stiffened, her eyes shot open and she started at the darkness in front of her. He brain was still numb from sleep and the stress and she didn't know that to do, she even didn't have the courage to move her head and see who was behind her. Slowly her hands moved to those who were holding her and she felt long sharp claws on the fingers.

"I-Inuyasha..." she said quietly, her voice slightly shaky and filled with uncertainty.

"Let me stay like this, please." she heard the hanyou's voice close to her ear and felt her heartbeat quicken. "You can sit me tomorrow. I promise I won't yell at you." he said and buried his face in her hair, tightening his arms around her, as if afraid that she was going to push him away.

Kagome didn't say anything. She just laid there still and if she could stiffen more than she already was she would have. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it was going to explode. She had only dreamed of being so close to Inuyasha and now when her dream had actually come true and she was supposed to be happy, she was acting like a complete idiot. Suddenly she felt his warm breath on her neck as he sighed deeply. A wave of calmness went through her whole body and she relaxed.

"Why are you doing that, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked after a while but he didn't answer. "Inuyasha?"

He sighed again, not moving his face away from her neck. "'Cause it feels nice to be with you."

Kagome's eyes widened in shock and surprise. She had never expected such an answer from Inuyasha. She knew he cared a lot about her, after what he did when he thought that she was dead, and it was close to the mind to guess why he wanted to hold her like that. But she also knew that he would never admit something like that, well until now. So, after receiving an answer from him that was not something like 'Go to sleep.' or ''Cause I want so.' Kagome was caught completely unprepared. Actually she had asked him only for his own comfort, expecting to hear one of the mentioned answers, or something similar.

"Now go to sleep." Inuyasha said, startling her out of her thoughts. "I don't want to hear complains tomorrow."

'Oh, well...' Kagome sighed in relief. 'I thought he had gone mad...' she couldn't help but smile at the thought of Inuyasha talking to her openly about himself.

"It's good to know..." she said, not paying attention that she was speaking aloud.

"And don't you dare move your hands." he said, almost growling and took her hands in his, making her give out a surprised sound and wince involuntary.

TBC


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

The next morning, when Kagome woke up, Inuyasha wasn't by her side anymore. She rolled over toward his bed and saw him lying there with his back on her. Suddenly he turned toward her, startling her. He held a finger on his lips to show her to be quiet and just stayed like that.

Kagome looked at him and he looked at her. That resulted in total confusion in her – she didn't know what to do with him anymore. First she thought about what happened at the hot spring, then while he carried her, then last night, and now he was just lying in front of her, looking at her.

Suddenly Inuyasha sat up and stretched. Then he turned toward her again, a small smirk on his lips. "Let's wake up the others with a sit, ok?"

Kagome sat up too and looked at him in disbelief. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again. After a second she made another attempt to speak but failed again. While watching her Inuyasha felt himself want to laugh but managed to look serious. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned slightly toward the girl.

"I promised you a sit last night, remember?" he asked and saw Kagome's eyes widen as she remembered, once again, how they slept.

Her cheeks started to redden and her look started to lower toward the floor. Then she saw him smirk and not knowing that he was doing it only to provoke her and not noticing that his face was also slightly flushed, she got angry. "Sit." she hissed at him and Inuyasha crashed on the floor.

The others were violently shaken out of their sleep. Knowing perfectly well what had woken them up, they just groaned a few times and were up. Nobody dared to ask why Inuyasha had been sat – Kagome's face was just too red and surprisingly the hanyou wasn't yelling.

After having a breakfast and apologizing to the owner of the house for the big hole in the floor, the group was on its way to Kaede's village again. Kirara was now bandaged properly and was feeling better, and to Inuyasha's discomfort he couldn't be ahead enough to talk with Kagome.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" the girl asked after maybe a tenth 'Feh' from the hanyou for no good reason.

"Keh." was his only answer as he continued to run faster.

Seeing that she wasn't going to have any luck with making him talk, Kagome decided to leave him be, at least until they reach the village. There obviously was something on his mind and this time she wasn't going to let him hide it from her. As if to show him that she wasn't easy to get rid off she leaned closer to his back and tightened her arms around his neck.

Inuyasha noticed how her grip on him tightened. He had been long enough with her to know exactly what her body language said and now was no exception. He knew that she would want an explanation for his behavior but he felt that he wasn't ready to tell her, not yet. 'I would have to think of something...to make her give me more time.' he thought.

As Inuyasha had said the other day the group was at the village around noon. They were in the forest and the hanyou purposely headed toward the well. Nobody suspected anything until they saw it. Miroku, Sango and Shippo exchanged worried looks and turned to Inuyasha. Kagome felt the worse – as realization stuck her she felt like someone had slapped her.

'That's why he was so nice to me.' she thought and tears started to fill her eyes. 'He's going to send me to my time, this time forever.' although such thoughts were crossing her mind she desperately hoped that he wasn't going to stop. But she was wrong.

The moment Inuyasha started to slow down he smelled her tears and the next second Kagome started trying to free herself from him. He stopped by the well and released her, before she hurt herself. When he turned to look at her she was already crying and backing away. He could feel the others' looks on him but ignored them. Right now he had to deal with the stubborn girl.

"Kagome..." he started and moved closer to her.

"Stay away!" she cried and backed away even more, frantically trying to find the bottle with the Shikon shard, under her shirt. When she found it she gripped it with both her hands and glared at Inuyasha, as if daring him to confront her.

The hanyou sighed and shook his head. He then turned toward the others, who were currently standing aside, and were looking with worry at the couple. "Guys, go to the village." Inuyasha said but they didn't seem to want to listen to him. "I promise I won't send her to her time."

"Inuyasha..." Miroku started after a not very gentle or even discrete nudge from Sango.

"I'm serious." the hanyou interrupted him. "Trust me just this one time, ok?"

The two humans and two small demons looked first at Kagome and after receiving an approving nod they agreed with Inuyasha. As they headed toward the village nobody spoke, they didn't even dare to stay behind and spy on them. They hoped and prayed that Inuyasha didn't lie to them and this wasn't the last time they see not only Kagome but the hanyou too.

After the others left them alone, Kagome continued to glare at Inuyasha. She wasn't sad anymore – now she was angry. He had no right to first show her that he cared about her and then just push her away. No, this time she would show him who the boss was.

Little did Kagome know that Inuyasha was perfectly aware of what she was going to do. In situations like this she was pretty easy to figure out, she was predictable. And after all those months together it would be shame if he didn't know her better.

"Stop clutching at that shard like an idiot." he said, surprising her. "I'm not gonna eat it." he even added a small smile and Kagome almost fell on the ground.

"Y-You want to t-take it from me." the girl said in low voice and didn't release the small bottle. "I won't let you send me to my time again."

"Even if I want to do that, I can't." he said calmly and Kagome frowned – this defiantly wasn't his style. "A single word from you and I'm done."

"T-That's right!" she said and made a step forward. "So, don't you dare come near me."

"Listen, Kagome." Inuyasha said and also made a step toward her. "I know I promised... but..."

"No! I don't want to!" she cried and ran to him, wrapping her arms around her chest and hugging him tight. "I want to stay with you. I promise to stay out of trouble... I promise!"

"Calm down, Kagome." the hanyou said and hugged her back. They stayed like this for a while and when her sobs quieted he pushed her slightly back and held his hands on the sides of her head. "I'm not making you go, I'm asking you. I have some things to do and I will be away for a while. I don't want you to stay here unprotected."

"Really?" the girl looked at him with wide teary eyes and he nodded. "And you're not lying?"

"Of course I'm not!" the hanyou suddenly felt insulted. "Have I ever lied to you?"

"No." Kagome couldn't help but smile at how defensive he became. "How long are you going to be away?"

"At least a weak." he answered after a short pause.

"Ok." she said and he released her so she could wipe her tears away from her eyes. "I'll stay at home for a weak." she smiled at him.

'Why do I feel this was too easy?' Inuyasha thought and the uneasy feeling that he had grew stronger. A second later he understood how a really angry Kagome looked.

"But," she said and narrowed her eyes at him, pocking him with her right hand's index finger in the chest, and he could've sworn that there were flames in her eyes. "If on the seventh day, in the morning, the well isn't working, I really don't want to be in your place." Inuyasha nodded dumbly while Kagome pocked him again and continued talking. "Reincarnation or not, I am a Miko. And I will find a way to come back and when that happens..."

"I got it, I got it!" the hanyou said fearfully and saw her smile.

"Alright, but promise me that when I come back you will stop acting strange." she said and looked at him in expectation.

"I promise." he said and barely managed to hold back a smile.

"And I want a big fight." Kagome said, surprising him with such a request.

"You got it." he said and this time smiled.

"Ok." she nodded and after kissing him on the left cheek jumped in the well. Once on the other side she felt somehow happy. Something just told her that she didn't have what to worry about and she gladly prepared for a week, during which she was going to be a normal teenage girl again.

After Inuyasha saw Kagome disappear in the well he found himself smiling. He held his hand on his cheek, where she had kissed him, and his smile widened even more. He thought of the others and decided that before he went to do what he had in mind he should warn them and tell them where Kagome was.

When he reached the village Kaede and the others were sitting in front of the hut. They all had a strange sad expression. The moment Sango saw him she stood up, grabbing her Hiraikotsu, and headed toward him. Her cold and angry eyes said that she wasn't going to give him any mercy.

"Take it easy, Sango!" Inuyasha yelled a safe distance away from her.

"Where is Kagome?" Shippo yelled from Miroku's shoulder, who was also approaching. "What did you do to her?"

"I asked her to go home." the hanyou answered.

"You did what?!" Miroku and Sango were shocked.

"But you promised!" the small kitsune shouted angry.

"What's the big deal?" Inuyasha said and shrugged. "I didn't force her to go, I asked her and she agreed." he explained and even started to walk toward his friends, who looked at him wide-eyed. "She'll be back in seven days. I have some things to do too, so I'll be going. Bye!"

The others didn't even have the time to protest and Inuyasha was gone. They shook their heads sadly but at lest they didn't think that something bad could happen. Feeling somewhat calm and believing that after everything the hanyou had been through, he wouldn't do something stupid, they headed back to the hut.

Inuyasha ran toward the forest at top speed. He was obviously looking for something and wanted to find it as fast as possible. 'Before the pain comes back...' he thought and that made him run faster.

During the night he had spent lying by Kagome's side Inuyasha had made a conclusion that Naraku was attempting to take control over him, using the shouki crystal. It was pretty obvious that it was causing the pain and only Kagome's purifying powers could stop it, and Naraku. Now that she wasn't by his side he had to be more careful than ever and finish his work as fast as possible.

TBC


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

Inuyasha had been running for almost two days now. Although he had decided to be careful since Kagome wasn't with him, he always took a little rest when he stopped. He knew that he might be straining himself but this didn't matter now. He had to go to her and once and for all deal with his feelings. He didn't know if she was going to understand him but he had to try.

He wasn't running through the forest anymore, it was far behind him now. He reached a wide green field, which had probably been a battlefield a long time ago. Ahead of him he could see someone sitting on the grass. Strange pink lights were surrounding the person. Although he couldn't recognize him, even with his demon vision, Inuyasha knew who it was.

"Finally... Kikyou..." he sniffed the air one last time and ran again.

The Miko knew that he was coming. Her soul snatchers weren't only good to take dead people's souls. He was a few meters away from her now, just standing there. But she didn't give any sign to have noticed him and continued to sit on the grass with the soul snatchers flying around her.

Inuyasha watched her back and although he knew what he wanted to tell her, he didn't know how to say it. He cursed the mess he had personally created and just remained still. Then she moved – she stood up and turned toward him. Startled, he made a step back and started at her.

"Inuyasha..." Kikyou said and looked at him. After he didn't give any indication to want to tell her why he was there, she decided to give him a little help. "I know what happened to you... and your friends."

"Y-You do?" the hanyou finally found a little courage to speak, after seeing that there was no need to explain everything from the very beginning.

"Yes." she said and raised one hand to touch a flying by soul snatcher. "And I also think I know why you are here." she added.

"No, you don't." Inuyasha said, his voice a little too quiet for his usual self. "It's..."

"About that girl, Kagome, isn't it?" the Miko interrupted him and he looked at her in surprise.

"I-I..." he stammered and his look lowered to the ground.

'I am pathetic.' the hanyou thought and fisted his hands. His claws dug in his palms, drawing blood, but he didn't care. 'How am I gonna tell Kagome if I can't...' his thoughts were cut short as he heard Kikyou sigh. He looked at her and saw her come closer.

"Inuyasha," she said and placed her right hand on his left cheek. "I was afraid that this was going to happen... You love her, don't you?"

All color drained form Inuyasha's face, he swallowed hard and slowly nodded. Then Kikyou sighed again and looked down. She removed her hand from his cheek and turned her back on him. The poor hanyou was at a total loss of words and right now that was good, otherwise he would have panicked. He felt bad, really bad for the Miko but he also felt helpless – he loved Kagome and that was a fact, nothing could change it.

"It was just a matter of time for you to understand that." Kikyou said without turning to face him. "I could already see it coming."

Inuyasha sighed in defeat. There was nothing to hide now, there was nothing to be embarrassed or shy about anymore. After all he had done the hardest thing – he had admitted to himself that he loved Kagome, not the undead Miko.

"Kikyou," he started calmly, "I made a promise to myself some time ago...that after I kill Naraku, I will put your soul to rest and join you in death."

"You want to take your words back?" the Miko asked, turning to face him.

"No." Inuyasha shook his head. "I want to know if you will still want to be with me when you die, knowing that I don't love you."

"What if I do?" she asked and looked straight in his eyes. "Will you leave Kagome for me?"

"Yes." he answered firmly.

"Why?" Kikyou asked, not moving her hard look away from his eyes.

"Because I owe you my life." he said just as firmly as before. "You said it too..."

"Here is the problem, Inuyasha." she interrupted him and sighed when he gave her a confused look. "I am only an obligation for you now. And because you are a good person you are going to ruin your life for me."

"That's not true!" the hanyou almost shouted at her. "You are not an obligation... You are..." he cut himself short when he realized what he was about to say and suddenly he felt that he could not look her in the eyes anymore.

"A former love." Kikyou finished for him.

Uncomfortable silence fell between them. Neither of them spoke and if someone watched them he could think that they were talking telepathically. Inuyasha's eyes were still lowered to the ground – saying that Kikyou was a former love insulted even him. He couldn't believe that she had said it just like that – as if their love didn't mean anything.

"Now, Inuyasha, tell me the truth." the Miko's words took him out of his thoughts and he snapped his head up only to look at her confused. "Why are you going to... No..." she paused for a moment to reconsider her question and then spoke again. "Why are you willing to leave Kagome, since you love her?"

Inuyasha was left in shock. This was exactly the question he didn't want to answer to. "B-Because..." he stammered and Kikyou's cold and merciless eyes weren't helping him much to regain his composure.

"This is the only thing I don't understand about you." she said, deciding to help him gather his courage to speak. "You have Kagome, who more than obviously loves you with no questions asked, and you still keep coming back to me. Why?"

"Because I can't shake the feeling, that she is the wrong one!" Inuyasha burst out, making a step toward Kikyou and surprising her with his words. "I can't stop thinking that by loving her I'm hurting you. Because it's the same soul – your soul, but just a different face..."

Suddenly a loud slap was heard and the hanyou was cut short. His head tilted to the side by the hit and his left cheek immediately reddened – Kikyou had slapped him. He held his right hand on his cheek and stared at the Miko in disbelief. She was glaring at him, her eyes narrowed and stormy, and her breathing heavy with anger. She stepped closer to him and took a deep calming breath, readying herself to unleash her wrath.

"How dare you talk like that?" she asked him with low and dangerous voice. Although she was sure that he didn't really mean these words and she knew exactly why he was talking like that, she had to make him understand. "It was you who made me see that she wasn't just a mere copy of myself but a completely different person... And now you are talking such stupid things?"

Inuyasha was taken completely aback by her words – she was absolutely right. Why the hell did he say something like that? Suddenly he felt extremely stupid and guilty, he felt like the lowest and dirtiest creature on earth. 'I'm a hanyou for God's sake.' he thought miserably. 'What could be worse than that?'

"I'm sorry..." he mumbled and looked to the ground, missing to see Kikyou's smile.

"Now, Inuyasha, I'm asking you again." she said and this time he was ready to answer any question. "Do you love Kagome?"

"Yes." he answered firmly.

"Then she is the right one." Kikyou said and for the first time since she was brought back to life he saw her soft and warm smile again.

"Thank you." he smiled too but then suddenly he felt sharp and stabbing pain in his chest, and doubled over.

"I completely forgot about that..." the Miko said worriedly and helped Inuyasha sit on the ground.

"You know about it too?" the hanyou asked through gritted teeth and pressed his hands to his chest.

"Yes." she nodded and made him move his hands away. She opened his haori and shirt and saw a small scar. "It is beginning to take form." she said and when Inuyasha looked down he saw that it looked like a spider.

"Can...you remove the...shouki crystal?" he asked between painful breaths.

"No." Kikyou shook her head. "But I can destroy Naraku's control over you."

"Do it..." Inuyasha hissed and she helped him stand up. He wobbled a little but managed to hold on his feet, while Kikyou moved a few meters away from him and took her bow and an arrow.

"This arrow will drain a lot of your energy. Most likely you will loose your demon powers for a while and turn human. When you go back to the village, you will have to stay as close to Kagome as possible. Her purifying powers will prevent Naraku from renewing his control over you." the Miko explained and prepared to shoot. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." Inuyasha nodded and she fired the arrow.

While flying toward him the arrow surrounded with blue glow and Kikyou collapsed on her knees on the ground. It hit him in the chest, right where the scar was. The moment the arrow pierced through his flesh the same blue glow surrounded him too. He tried to cry out in pain but no sound came out of his mouth. The arrow entered his body and disappeared, then he fell on the ground face down.

Kikyou slowly crawled to him and rolled him over on his back. He groaned in pain as she examined the wound. The spider-scar was gone, now there was a bluish spot. The Miko sighed in relief and sat back. Inuyasha tried desperately to open his eyes and ask her if everything was alright but he felt too weak.

"Don't try to move." he heard her voice and complied.

"Am I human already?" he asked weakly and hearing how changed his voice was answered his question.

"Yes." Kikyou said and started to stand up. "My soul snatchers will take you as closer to the village as possible. They can't go too far away from me and I'm too weak to come with you."

Inuyasha only nodded and about ten soul snatchers wrapped around him. They lifted him in the air and flew away. Kikyou watched him until he was out of her eyesight and sighed. She sat again on the ground and the rest of the snake-like demons gathered around her. 'We will be together, Inuyasha...' she said and a rare smile formed on her lips. 'We will have our time...'

Sometime during the flight Inuyasha fell asleep and when he woke up he was lying next to a hot spring on a small clearing. Big old trees were surrounding the clearing and were making it a very nice and safe place to rest. 'Just for a while...' the hanyou thought sleepily. 'I'll start moving in the morning...'

TBC


	23. Chapter TwentyThree

Pellets of rain were drubbing his body and the wind was howling like a living creature. The fierce wind was attacking as if trying to peel him off of the ground. He dug in with his feet so as not to loose to the wind and right now it seemed that nothing could save him. The forest was dense with trees shaking noisily. Torn leaves were flying through the air and pounding his body along with the raindrops. The raindrops were entering his eyes, preventing him from keeping them open. He was so close to the village but the storm was making it almost impossible to continue.

'In that storm, who's going to respond to me?' Inuyasha thought after reconsidering his decision to shout for help. 'Even if there is someone nearby, the wind would easily wipe out my voice.' he was right about that – he would only waste his strength.

A driving gust of wind almost swept him off his feet. He grabbed onto a nearby tree for dear life. He managed to hold on and the wind calmed for a second, just in time for a painful spasm in his chest. He doubled over and fell on his knees. If he didn't get to the village, to Kagome, he would surely die here.

'Fucking storm! Where the hell did it came from?' he badmouthed the weather to himself, while looking up at the darkly moving sky. Exactly one week had passed since he left the village. If it wasn't that storm he would've already been there. He could imagine how angry Kagome must've gotten when she hadn't found him.

It was last night when the winds started to pick up and the sky darkened. It was like something bad was going to happen very soon and the nature itself was feeling it. After Kikyou's soul snatchers had left him and he had rested for a while, the pain had disappeared but with the approach of the storm it started to return. That made him think that all was Naraku's doing and actually he was right. Somehow deep in his heart he knew that, he could've easily predicted it but he didn't pay attention.

There was no way that he wanted to be out in the open with a storm on its way. He had thought that the storm wasn't going to hit until the next day and had decided to rest for the night. It was then that the winds had suddenly picked up, while he was asleep of all time. So, he had hurriedly decided to start moving toward the village.

When the weather was nice the forest was abundant in wildlife, but now there were no signs of life. It was like every living creature had run away days ago. The hanyou thought that if the trees could've run they would have, and he couldn't help but have the strange feeling that he had something to do with all this. He could barely feel Naraku's youki surrounding him and probably that's why the animals were afraid, but with his senses dulled because of being human he just couldn't tell how much notable it was.

"Will I ever make it back alive?" Inuyasha asked himself and started to slowly push forward.

Whenever he let up to take a breath, the wind seemed to become stronger. He felt like it was playing with him, trying to throw him in the air like a torn leaf. His haori was hanging around his waist, his shirt was still on him but it was soaked to the bone and was hanging un-tugged on him, showing the scar from Kikyou's arrow on his chest. His wet hair was sticking on his forehead and face and it felt gross, but he didn't have the time to think about that right now.

"It's like a natural shower." he said with a little amusement in his voice and again tried to push ahead. Right now he could give everything for a nice and warm shower in Kagome's time, or in a hot spring...

He felt a throbbing pain in his hands and noticed that they were covered with scratches. It would have been a miracle if he hadn't been hurt, the way he was holding onto trunks of trees so as not to be blown away by the wind. His sides hurt too, from the constant bumping in the trees and falling on the ground every now and then. I addition to the injuries, he was feeling cold, and every time he tried to move his limbs ached in pain.

'Even if I make it out of here alive, I'll probably have to stay in bed for several days.' Inuyasha thought while driving winds assailed him again and he desperately tried to keep his feet, resisting the wind with all his strength.

Suddenly he slipped and slid on the muddy and slippery ground. He lost his balance and shivered with fear as he realized that he was sliding in the direction of a sheer cliff. He frantically tried to grab hold of a branch of a nearby tree but it broke. The next moment he was sent off the cliff into midair. While falling he could see the village right ahead but right now he didn't think he was going to make it to go there.

Then an unbearable pain in his head made him loose consciousness as he crashed on the ground. His cry for help as he was falling wasn't heard by anyone. He just laid there unmoving and one easily could think that he was dead. But it wasn't long before his consciousness started to return slowly in a chill that seemed to freeze to the bone.

'Ugh... Where am I?' Inuyasha thought and tried to move but failed. 'It's so dark... It's cold...' it was then that he realized that he couldn't see anything and he was sure it wasn't because it was dark outside.

"Shit..." he said and this time managed to roll over on his stomach. "Come on, move!" he tried to yell but his voice came out just a little louder than a whisper. After a few minutes of unsuccessful attempts to move he managed to stand up on his hands and knees. Not able to do more he started to slowly crawl toward the village.

At Kaede's hut everybody were quiet. They were listening to the wind and shivering every now and then. Kagome, who was sitting close to the door, was shaking all over. The others had told her to move closer to the fire but she had refused. She had a strange feeling that something was wrong with Inuyasha and they won't hear him if he comes back.

Suddenly there was a dull thud outside and everybody startled. They exchanged worried looks but nobody went to see what was going on. Then the straw mat covering the door moved aside and there he was. A human Inuyasha stood in front of them. Blood was practically flowing from a large wound on his forehead and the left side of his head, his shirt was soaked with blood and water and his arms and torso were covered with scratches.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome gasped and as he started to fall forward she stood up and caught him, falling on her knees herself.

The others rushed to them and Miroku and Sango placed the hanyou on a futon near the fire. They removed his haori and shirt and were left in shock from the strange bluish scar on his chest. But there was no time to waste and they all helped with everything they could to clean his wounds and bandage him. After everything was ready they took their time to look at him better.

"Why is he human?" Shippo voiced out the question everybody else was asking in their minds.

"I have no idea." Miroku said and looked at Kagome, who just shook her head.

"I think I know why." Kaede's words made the others look at her with interest. "By the look of it, the scar on his chest is made by a purifying arrow."

"P-Purifying arrow..." Kagome said and her eyes widened.

"Are you saying that Kikyou-sama shot him?" Miroku asked the question which Kagome didn't have the courage to say.

"There is no doubt about that." the old Miko said sadly. "I can still feel her aura around him. This arrow must have drained his energy and that is the reason he is human now."

'No...' Kagome thought as she looked at Inuyasha and shook her head. 'How could she? She said she loved him... How could she do this to him again?'

Inuyasha felt warm and at peace. As he slowly started to come to consciousness he could barely hear someone talking but that didn't really matter to him. Surprisingly his chest didn't hurt anymore, only his other wounds, and that made him think that he must be close to Kagome. He wished it was true and tried to open his eyes. He succeeded but a sudden feel of nausea made him groan.

Soft hands touched his bare shoulders as he tried to roll over and curl into a small ball. The hands pushed him on his back again and he heard his name being called. Another attempt to open his eyes made the world around him start spinning. This time he didn't close them and as his vision started to clear he saw Kagome's worried face. She was leaning over him and on an impulse he lifted his arms and embraced her.

"Inuyasha!" she almost screamed as she crashed on top of him. She tried to move away as she heard him groan in pain but despite it he continued to hold her.

"Kagome-chan, you ok?" Sango asked, moving closer to her and Inuyasha.

"Yeah." the girl said breathlessly and couldn't help but blush at the looks everybody were giving her.

"Do you want help?" Miroku asked with a strange smile on his lips.

"No..." she heard Inuyasha whisper and looked at him. His slightly opened eyes slowly closed before he continued and she knew that he would pass out again. "Please, stay with me..." he said and his hold on her loosened.

Kagome sat up and looked at her friends. They all gave her the same strange smile, showing her that they had heard Inuyasha, and she felt the heat in her cheeks rise even more. Nobody said anything and soon all went to bed. Kagome sat next to the hanyou, just holding his hand, and when she was sure that everybody were asleep she lied next to him, placing one hand over his chest.

'I should've made him promise not to get hurt while I was away.' the girl thought and closed her eyes. 'You've got a lot to explain tomorrow, Inuyasha.'

He felt her when she lied next to him and a content smile formed on his lips. Now he didn't feel not only the pain in his chest but his whole body felt good. He sighed deeply and moved one hand to her shoulder and as he let it rest there she snuggled closer to him. Despite everything he had lived through for the past two weeks he was happy to finally be able to hold her like that. He could finally tell her that he loved her but not until Naraku was defeated.

'We will kill that bastard and then...' Inuyasha thought and slowly drifted off to a peaceful and dreamless sleep.

Rain fell in sheets, whipping the forest into a frenzy of branches and leaves. The wind howled in its furry as it blew through the eaves of the small hut. It was quiet and dark, only a dying fire in the middle of the room was keeping the people inside warm and was giving them at least a little light. They were all asleep, all except a certain hanyou and the girl that was lying next to him.

She moved to get up and just sat next to him, watching him. He looked like he was sleeping but she knew him better than that. She knew his breathing when he slept; she had seen how his eyes moved when he dreamed. Now he was definitely faking it, but this time she wasn't going to make him tell her what had happened to him.

'I'm very angry, Inuyasha.' Kagome thought and bit her bottom lip. 'No, I'm worried to death, Inuyasha.' she corrected herself and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She stayed like that for a while and closed her eyes, just listening to his breathing.  
  
Pain, it was all he was aware of – searing pain. The moment Kagome had moved away from him he felt like he had hit the ground very hard. He wanted to get up, to at least open his eyes but his body refused to listen to his mind's demands. After a moment that seemed like an eternity he strained to try to move again but his muscles turned to jelly. The smell of the damp air filled his lungs as he gasped for air.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome was taken out of her thoughts as she heard his strangled gasp and a quiet moan. He didn't answer her and she leaned closer to him. "Inuyasha, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing his pained expression.

He heard someone calling him but the voice was getting weaker and weaker with every passing second. No matter how hard he struggled he couldn't move – just laid there on the floor. Even if he had some strength left in his body it all fled him as a new stronger pain spread through his whole body. It was like wounds from previous fights were coming back and he couldn't do anything to stop them. He groaned and out of reflex, bit down on his lip to keep the sound from escaping.

Kagome was panicking very fast – she saw him bite on his bottom lip, drawing blood and a second later she heard him groan. She was well aware that he was in pain but all his wounds were cleaned and bandaged, and that was what was driving her crazy. How could she help him if she didn't know what was wrong with him? The others started to stir but didn't wake up and in the condition Kagome was she didn't think of calling them for help.  
  
Inuyasha's breath seized in his throat as another wave of pain washed over him. He felt something warm flow over his shoulder and the bitter smell of blood filled the air – his blood. He finally managed to open his eyes but just closed them again, as his vision wavered. He tried to yell but failed and nothing but a pained groan came out. Unconsciousness came up to him like night, sudden and dark.

"Kagome..." the single word left his dry tortured throat as he sunk deeper into nothingness.

She was leaning toward him, not daring to touch him. She had seen the large bloody spot that appeared on his left shoulder and had removed the shirt she had placed on him when she had sat up. There was no wound; it was like the blood was streaming from his skin. Fortunately Kagome wasn't the type to stay panicked for too long and quickly gathered her thoughts. She woke up everybody in the hut and hurriedly explained what had happened.

"This is not good, child." Kaede said while she took some herbs and started to prepare them to boil them.

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked as she was said to press the shirt to the place from where the blood was coming. "What's wrong with him?"

"This is a side effect of the purifying arrow." the old Miko explained.

"So, it is trying to kill him?" Sango, who was helping Kaede with the herbs, asked and the old woman nodded.

"Can't Kagome use her powers to neutralize the arrow's power?" Shippo asked from Miroku's shoulder.

"No." the monk said and moved closer to Inuyasha to help Kagome. "Right now his body would take everything like a destroying force and he will die. That's why Kaede-sama is preparing those herbs..."

Inuyasha was falling more and more into the darkness. He felt calm but at the same time – cold, and suddenly pain washed his mind in have that seemed to be with no end. His last coherent thought was of why didn't the pain leave him at least when he was unconscious. Even the darkness became painful and crushing and he felt like loosing his body, he became light and the same time something was pulling him back down.

Kagome had started crying some time ago and hearing his pained groans didn't help much for her composure, but she was still holding. Shippo was staring with wide teary eyes as his hanyou friend was struggling for his life. Miroku made a sign for Sango to take the small kitsune outside and she complied. Kirara fallowed the demon exterminator too. The herbs were going to be ready in just a few minutes.

"I will have to use my powers, won't I?" Kagome asked with shaky voice and looked at Kaede.

"Yes, my child." the old Miko said. "You will have to oppose to the purifying power inside him. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I can." the girl nodded and a few tears fell on Inuyasha's chest.

He groaned softly and his breath came in gasps, his chest struggling to rise with each hard fought breath. He moaned something out in his semi conscious state and his right hand came to his chest and he placed it over the tears. The monk and the old Miko looked at each other and then at Kagome.

"Kagome, do it now." Kaede commanded and the girl looked at her confused.

"We don't need the herbs." Miroku said quickly and pulled the blood stained shirt away from her hands. "Concentrate and use your powers." after that he took her hands and placed them on the hanyou's chest.

Kagome closed her eyes and suddenly she felt something being pulled out of her. It wasn't really necessary for her to anything – Inuyasha was taking all the energy he needed all by himself. His whole body surrounded with pink glow and the blood from his shoulder started to disappear. If the bandages on his wounds were removed there wouldn't be any wounds left anymore.

After a few minutes he stopped draining energy from Kagome, turning back to his hanyou form, and she collapsed on top of him unconscious. Miroku moved her to lie next to the hanyou and left her there. He and Kaede didn't say anything to each other – they simply thought the same and they knew that. For them it was obvious that this king of power draining wasn't something Inuyasha could do just like that. He was a hanyou and even if he was a full demon, dog-demons couldn't do such things.

Something bad was coming and they could feel it. They didn't know why Kikyou fired an arrow at Inuyasha again but they didn't think she did it to kill him. There was more to it but without the hanyou there was no way to figure it out. For now they just hoped that whatever the problem was they wouldn't loose a friend.

TBC


	24. Chapter TwentyFour

Inuyasha woke up feeling the sun shining in his face but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't make his eyes open. He felt stiff and his whole body ached but still tried to move himself. Of course that sent a wave of pain from his head to the tips of his toes and he couldn't suppress the groan that escaped his lips. When the pain subsided a little he felt that there was someone else lying beside him, under his cover that seemed like his own haori.

That someone moaned something incoherent and snuggled closer to him. He stiffened even more, if that was even possible, not having the slightest idea who might be sleeping with him. Then he felt a soft small hand move across his chest and go to his neck. That sent a shiver down his spine and a relaxing warm feeling overwhelmed him. A small content sigh came from him and he felt his body relax.

He inhaled deeply and her scent filled his nostrils, now he was sure that she was lying with him. He cursed himself for not recognizing her at first. It didn't matter to him that his senses must be pretty messed up – not recognizing her was just unforgivable. "Kagome..." he whispered in relief and he felt her stir.

The girl opened her eyes, and still a little disoriented, didn't notice where she had been sleeping. She moved her hand down Inuyasha's chest and let it rest on his stomach, snuggling closer to him. Suddenly she felt his muscles stiffen and realizing what she was doing, she immediately bolted up in sitting position. She breathed heavy, looking down at his calm face and sighed glad that she hasn't woken him up.

When she had sat up she had removed the haori that was covering them and now she saw him shiver slightly. She frowned and placed the red cloth back on him. Then looking around the hut she noticed that it was empty and that by the fire were left two bowls with some soup. Smiling to herself, she thanked her friends for taking care for her and Inuyasha and took one of the bowls. She ate her soup and turned to look at the hanyou. He had started trembling slightly and she moved closer to him.

'It's not so cold, Inuyasha.' Kagome thought concerned and adjusted the haori better. 'Even for a human...' she sat next to him and continued to just look at his face.

Before Kagome had moved away from him, his body had just started to relax and now, when she wasn't by him, it was even stiffer than before and every breath hurt. He tried to concentrate and ignore the pain but with no luck. The more time Kagome was staying away from him the more it hurt and he didn't have even the strength to speak. His mind was becoming foggy and he felt his limbs heavy and numb. With his last strength he managed to open his mouth but only a quiet gasp came out.

Kagome, however, heard him and leaned closer to him placing one hand on his chest, the other on his forehead. That made him gasp again and his eyes opened. They seemed darkened and unfocused and it didn't look like he was seeing anything at all. He lifted his hands and placed them on her, which was on his chest. That startled her and although her first thought was to pull away, she didn't and even moved her hands so that she was able to squeeze his. She wanted to show him that she wasn't going to leave him.

"Inuyasha, say something." she said and leaned closer to his face. "Please, don't scare me."

He didn't answer her but gradually calmed down and relaxed. He closed his eyes again and his breathing started to become even again. Sighing in relief, Kagome sat back down and tried to pull one hand away to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but he tightened his grip and tugged on her hands. She almost fell on top of him but managed to remain on her place.

"You are awake, aren't you?" she asked when she saw his eyes move under his eyelids. "Tell me what is happening to you." she demanded.

"Lie back down with me, please." he said, his voice quiet and weak, completely surprising her with such a request. When she didn't move he forced his voice out once again. "I'll tell you... Just... Please..."

Not wanting to listen to him beg her for something that even she wanted, Kagome lied next to him and moved under the haori. He made her place one hand over his chest and held her as tight as his weakened body allowed him. They stayed silent for a while and when he opened his mouth to speak, she moved her hand to place it over his lips. She didn't have to speak for him to understand that she was giving him some more time to gather his thoughts.

After a few minutes Inuyasha was ready to talk. As he took a deep breath he felt her tense and that gave him an uneasy feeling. Then he decided that rather than explaining everything from the very beginning he should let her ask her questions. It would be better that way not only for him but for her too, at least he thought so. "What do you want to know?" he asked, his voice sounding harsher than he wanted it to be.

"I want to know everything." the girl said firmly. "From the very beginning till the very end."

Inuyasha cursed in his mind but decided to do what she wanted. "You know that along with the Shikon shards I absorbed one shouki crystal, right?" he said this as a question but it was more like a statement and that made Kagome shiver slightly. "It stayed in me when I removed the shards. I went to see Kikyou because Naraku was trying to take control over me using the shouki crystal." he paused for a moment to take a breath and then continued again. "Kikyou shot me to destroy that bastard's control."

As Kagome listened to him, she felt herself wanting to cry. He had gone to Kikyou. That alone wasn't a problem but the thought that crossed the girl's mind was. Why hadn't Inuyasha asked her for help? She was the dead Miko's reincarnation, she could do everything Kikyou could – she was even better sometimes. A single tear slid down her cheek and fell on the hanyou's shoulder, where the girl's head was rested.

"I went to Kikyou because after she fired the arrow she didn't have enough purifying power to oppose Naraku's attempts to restore his control over me." Inuyasha said, perfectly aware of why she was so depressed. "I could've asked you to do that but then I would have to stay with Kikyou... You wouldn't want me to hold her like that, right?"

Hearing his last words, Kagome gasped and her eyes widened in surprise. She lifted her head a little to be able to look at his face and if he wasn't so weak she was sure that he would have blushed. "What about you?" she asked quietly, trying to see some sort of a sign in his calm face.

"Lie back down." he simply said and sighing in defeat she complied. "And stop crying over stupid things."

"Ok." she nodded and snuggled closer to him. "How long do you need me to stay like this?"

"I don't know." he said but in fact his thoughts were other. He wanted to stay with her forever; to be able to hold her like that was the best thing that had happened to him in days.

Kagome frowned at his answer but remained silent. Then she lifted the haori to look at the scar on his chest. With relief she noticed that it was smaller than the last night and the bluish color was fainter. An idea popped up in her mind and she raised one brow. Inuyasha saw her and narrowed his eyes at her. She lifted her head and couldn't help but smile at his concerned expression.

"What is it?" he asked quietly.

"The scar is fading away." she pointed, not missing to notice how he shivered when she moved her hand across his stomach to raise it above his chest. She swallowed, her cheeks reddening a little, and continued. "Maybe you'll be alright when the scar completely disappears."

"M-Maybe..." the hanyou stuttered and also gulped.

"The only bad thing is that you'll have to tell everything all over again to the others." she said and lied back down.

"No need for that." he grumbled. "They're outside and heard everything."

At his last words something outside of the hut rustled and it was clear for him that his friends were trying to escape as fast as possible. Kagome gave out a surprised gasp and bolted up, not caring that she put all her weight on her hands that she placed on Inuyasha's stomach to get up easier. She practically knocked the air out of him and he started coughing.

"I-Inu..." the girl stuttered and didn't dare to touch him as he curled into a small ball.

"Are..." coughing, "...trying to kill..." more coughing.

"I'm sorry..." she said, her voice dangerously shaky.

Inuyasha had calmed down by now and immediately noticed the change in her voice. "Oh, great..." he rasped. "Don't you dare cry on me now..." he coughed one last time and breathed heavily.

"I won't..." Kagome sniffled and held her right hand over her mouth and nose. "You ok?"

"Yea..." the hanyou said and relaxed on his back again. He looked at her a little strangely and his cheeks reddened a little.

'If he can blush, he's definitely ok.' Kagome thought happily but then wandered why was he blushing in the first place. She hadn't done anything embarrassing again, well not yet. 'What does he want with me now?' she asked herself and then her eyes widened slightly. Swallowing hard she lowered herself and lied back down next to him. 'Idiot. He can ask me to lay with him when the others are here but when we're alone...' she stiffened as she felt his hand move under her shirt and his claws brush against her back.

'Now what?' Inuyasha wandered as he felt her tense. His arms were still a little numb and he couldn't really feel where he was touching her. 'Typical for her... I'll never understand her...' with that he relaxed and closed his eyes.

Kagome was rigid for a while but when she noticed that his hand wasn't doing anything except just keeping her closer to him, she started to relax. After a while she felt his grip on her loosen and his breathing become more even. When she was sure that he was asleep she moved herself so that her hands were on his chest and her head was rested on her hands. His hand slipped from under her shirt and in his sleep he placed it on her behind. That made her squeak and his eyes shot open.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked sleepily, oblivious to his hand's position, again.

"C-Could y-you..." she stammered in a slightly squeaky voice and swallowed before continuing. "Y-Your hand is... Um..."

"Oh, sorry." the hanyou said a little breathlessly and moved his hand up to her waist.

Inuyasha didn't say anything about the way she was practically laying on top of him and Kagome finally relaxed. His eyes were closed again but she was sure that he wasn't sleeping. After a while she lifted herself to look at the scar and smiled as she saw that it was even fainter. She knew that Inuyasha had looked too and didn't bother him. They stayed silent for almost an eternity for Kagome and finally she spoke.

"Inuyasha, why did you say that I wouldn't want you to hold Kikyou like that?" she asked quietly and he sighed. "I mean, you and her are..."

"Can we not talk about that right now?" he asked purposely a little harsher, without opening his eyes to look at her.

Kagome bit her bottom lip and looked away sadly. "Alright, if you wish so..." she said and sighed too.

Suddenly the hanyou growled and opened his eyes, startling her. He pushed himself up, along with her, placing his right hand on the right side of her face and pulled her closer to his face. The last thing that she saw was Inuyasha's face coming closer to hers and the last thing she expected him to do was exactly what he did. He kissed her. He lightly brushed his lips over hers and took advantage of her surprised gasp to deepen the kiss. After it was over he pushed her slightly away, not making eye contact with her, lied back down and pulled her closer to himself.

TBC


	25. Chapter TwentyFive

Kagome felt like dreaming, she just couldn't believe what had happened. She was suddenly so dazed that she was even unable to tell which way was up. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. Although she was actually lying, she felt her legs like jelly and was quite certain that they would not be capable of supporting her, well not permanently. Slowly, she opened her eyes but didn't dare to look at Inuyasha.

The hanyou cursed himself in his mind – he had made things worse. Now she would want explanations and from the sound of her heart and her breathing he knew just how his actions had affected her. Oh yes, he could clearly hear her heart now – it was beating so fast that he thought it would burst out any moment. And this wasn't helping him to remain calm. He knew that she wasn't going to leave things like that and tried to think of an explanation as fast as his also dazed brain could.

Kagome tried to respond, although she knew that that was the last thing he wanted now, but she still couldn't find her voice. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth but felt him stiffen and closed it again. Out of the corner of his eye Inuyasha studied her as he watched her stare at his shoulder across her face. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard, as he nervously bit the inside of his right cheek.

'Well, I haven't been sat to Hell, yet.' he thought and bit the inside of his other cheek. He seemed to forget that he didn't want her to say anything and he most certainly didn't want to explain anything, but her silence was making him extremely nervous. 'Why is she just sitting there?'

"Inuyasha..." she started but in his panic of what she would say he interrupted her.

"Stupid, stupid girl..." he grunted, pretending to be angry with her. "I was supposed to do that after we defeat Naraku. But nooo, you had to act stupid and make me rush the things!" he said and heard her gasp.

Kagome swallowed hard and looked up at him. His eyes were closed and his whole face was flushed. "B-But...how did you... I mean, d-do you know...t-that I..." she stuttered and when he opened his eyes and met hers, she suddenly found herself unable to speak anymore.

"Don't tell me you think I am that stupid." he said a little touchy, emphasizing on the last two words. "You don't need to tell me that you lo..." he was cut short when Kaede entered the hut.

"Oh, I see you are alright, Inuyasha." the old woman smiled and walked toward the, strangely for her, blushing couple. "Do you still have fever? And what about you, Kagome?" she touched their foreheads, despite their franticly shaking heads. When she was sure that they were alright she went back to the door and called the others in.

Kagome was frustrated and in fact very flushed, just like the hanyou in whose lap she was sitting. It wasn't her or Inuyasha's idea to sit like that, but Miroku's and Kaede's, and now they were definitely having the fun of their life. The scar on the hanyou's chest was already gone and there was no need for him to hold her so close anymore, but the monk and the Miko just wanted to be sure that there won't be any complications. Well, it wasn't unpleasant to sit like that with Inuyasha but not in the presence of the others.

The schoolgirl's frustration wasn't because the usual things – a grumpy hanyou, an annoying monk, a kitsune's constant whining for chocolate and so on, but the fact that she couldn't be left alone with Inuyasha. The whole morning and afternoon their friends had stayed with them, discussing about the shouki crystal, the Shikon shards, Naraku and every evil demon they could think of and it was getting very annoying not only for her but for Inuyasha too. It was late afternoon and the sun was setting.

As if purposely trying to add more to her distress, Sango and Kaede had made her stay with Inuyasha even while the two women prepared dinner. Kagome picked at her food, not really hungry from the all too 'tiring' lying the whole day, and stared at the floor. She wanted to talk with the also not hungry hanyou behind her about what had happened, but she also knew that she didn't want to suffer his mood swings.

'If I say the wrong thing, or make him feel pressured, he'll get all defensive and we will surely start fighting.' she thought and looked at him with the corner of her eye. 'I'd better leave things like that, but just for now...' with that decided, she smiled to herself and started eating again.

Inuyasha felt the sudden change in her mood and gulped. 'It's too easy.' he repeated several times in his mind and eyed her suspiciously. 'She gave up too soon. What is she up to?' he fought the urge to shiver and chocked with his next bite, bringing all the attention again to him. His friends panicked immediately and despite that he was almost suffocating he didn't miss the opportunity to roll his eyes at their rather ineffective attempts to calm his coughing.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Miroku asked after his friend had stopped coughing.

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha looked slightly confused.

"I mean, are we going to rest or are we going to try to find Naraku?" the monk asked and before the hanyou could answer he added. "I suggest we rest for a few days, ok?"

"I..." Inuyasha started.

"That's a good idea, Houshi-sama." Sango nodded smiling.

"But!" the hanyou tried to protest, turning his head toward the demon exterminator.

"They are right, Inuyasha." Kaede was the one to interrupt him next. "Right?" she looked at Shippo and Kagome and only the small kitsune nodded.

'This is not good.' Kagome thought as she got the strange feeling that Inuyasha wasn't going to hold on much longer. 'They just don't know when to stop.' she braced herself for what was coming, as she felt him tense.

"Will you all shut up?" the hanyou simply exploded and picking the girl in his lap up, stood and then sat her down. The others started at him startled and didn't dare to speak anymore. "I am feeling fine. There's no reason to worry about me. We should start moving tomorrow, because I know where to find Naraku's hideout." at that everybody gasped.

"Are you serious?" Kagome was the first to find her voice and ask, and he nodded. "But how?"

"When he was trying to take control over me I got a glimpse of his castle." he explained sulkily and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"And you can tell exactly where that castle is?" Miroku asked suspiciously and Inuyasha narrowed his eyes angrily at him. "Only by a 'glimpse'?"

"Yes." the hanyou snapped. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, Inuyasha, of course he doesn't." Kagome stood up to try to calm him down and pulled at his shoulder to make him sit down again. He reluctantly obeyed but although she tried to better his mood he still was angry.

The monk and Kaede exchanged knowing glances that he just couldn't miss to notice. Sango was also suspecting something and he made a mental note to be more careful with his outbursts. Shippo and Kirara were no problem – even if the cat demon knew something she couldn't speak, and the kitsune was just a stupid kid. The biggest problem was Kagome. He feared that sooner or later it would all become clear to her and it wasn't an easy thing to oppose her.

"Oh, come on, Inuyasha." she rolled her eyes as after almost an hour, the hanyou hadn't stopped glaring at their friends. "They are just worried..."

"Feh." he snapped and turned his head aside and started to stand up. "I ain't a stupid child... And I'm going out..."

"But you're acting like one." the girl snapped and stood up after him. Inuyasha followed her movements with the corner of his eyes and when she placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her ayes at him, he felt slightly uneasy.

"Wh-what?" he asked with a slightly nervous smile.

The others gulped. Whatever Kagome had in mind, it was definitely going to be painful. They all assumed that she was going to sit him but one can never know – sometimes she was just too unpredictable. Inuyasha unconsciously edged away a little and when she reached with her right hand toward him he shut his eyes tightly and prepared for whatever was going to happen.

"If you think that you are going to get away so easily, after only one night of not so good sleep, you are greatly mistaken." she said, her voice low and firm, as she grabbed his ear and pulled him toward her sleeping bag. He involuntary squeaked and that made the others chuckle.

"I don't want to sleep..." the hanyou pleaded while she was dragging him. "I'm not tired..."

"Yes, you are." Sango said as firmly as she could, trying to hold back her smile and stood up to help Kagome.

Latter that night, when everybody were finally asleep, Inuyasha laid awake on Kagome's sleeping bag with her. It wasn't that he didn't like to be like that with her, but he just wasn't tired. He wanted to get up and find Naraku. A quiet moan escaped from her lips and he felt her snuggle closer to him. Swallowing hard he tried to move away but she kept coming closer. Finally, tired of this, he sighed in defeat and let her do whatever she wanted. Some time during the night he fell asleep, tired of imagining different ways to kill Naraku.

When we speak about Naraku... Ne was restlessly walking back and forth in his dark room. Nobody was with him and he even allowed himself to curse out loud and to talk to himself. Since he had understood that Inuyasha had absorbed his shouki crystal, he had constantly been trying to take control over the hanyou but with no success. He knew that it was Kagome's purifying powers that was preventing him form doing so and that angered him the most.

'That little, annoying...' he thought and stopped as an idea crossed his mind. 'What if he transforms into full demon again?' he smiled at that. 'Without the Shikon shards he will be just a mindless monster and it would be easier to restore the control.'

"But I still have to separate him from Kagome..." Naraku tapped at his chin and seemed to come up with another idea. "Kikyou's arrow didn't destroy the connection between us and he would be able to find me wherever I go. I have to take care of the baby." he nodded at his decision and called for Kagura and Kanna.

"What are your orders?" the wind sorceress asked a little too ignorant than usually when she and the white-clad girl entered the room.

"Take the baby and hide it." Naraku said calmly. "I want you to protect it with the price of your lives. Call for Hakudoshi and Kohaku."

"Yes, Naraku-sama." only Kanna said, Kagura just bowed and the two exited the room.

After a minute the two boys entered. The evil hanyou was sitting at the farthest side of the room and the shadow of the wall was hiding him. At first Kohaku didn't even see him and Naraku noticed something strange in his eyes. Was this hate? Or maybe anger? He smirked and stood up, revealing himself. Seeing him, Kohaku's expression immediately turned serious and he looked at his master.

"Inuyasha and his friends are coming." Naraku informed them.

"How does he know of this place?" Hakudoshi asked.

"That doesn't matter." his master said calmly and walked closer to the two boys.

"You want us to hold them back until you escape?" Kohaku asked a little sarcastically, but Naraku didn't pay attention.

"No, I want you to kill them." he said and smiled when he noticed the boy's slight wince.

Hakudoshi smiled too and after bowing he and Kohaku exited the room. Naraku returned to his dark spot and sat down. His smile widened as he imagined how he would finally take the complete Shikon no Tama in his possession, after he kills the pathetic hanyou and his even more pathetic humans.

TBC


	26. Chapter TwentySix

It was morning and a very irritated hanyou was sitting outside the small hut. He had crossed his arms in front of his chest and was intently glaring at practically everything and everybody. Although he had had a very good sleep he definitely wasn't going to admit it. He kept blaming everybody about wasting his time in pointless breakfasts and that of course made them kick him out. Well, we must say that Kagome did that – the others were still too worried to take any drastic measures to deal with the hanyou's mood swings.

When his friends were finished with their breakfast they hurried to get going. Kagome had taken her small yellow bag after Inuyasha had warned her that they would have to travel fast. He had said that Naraku would probably try to escape when he understands that they have found his hideout. While they had still been in the hut, Inuyasha had heard them talking that this would most likely be their finale battle. Somehow he also had the same feeling but he wasn't happy about that. That shouki crystal was still worrying him very much.

"Are you ready?" he asked Kagome and crouched so that she could climb on his back.

"Yes." she nodded and walked toward him.

"Inuyasha," Kaede appeared on the door of the hut and everybody turned toward her in question. "Would you come inside? I want to speak with you..." she said and turned to enter the hut.

"What now?" the hanyou huffed and fallowed the old woman inside.

The others exchanged confused looks and shrugged. Maybe she wanted to talk with him about Kikyou, they all thought. Sighing they walked to the stairs that led to the village shrine, next to the hut. Sitting there, without saying even a word, they waited for their friend.

Inuyasha entered the small room and waited for Kaede to start talking. He had the strange feeling that she knew something that he didn't. Her eyes showed that she was going to have a serious conversation with him and now she was just observing his reactions. He was getting more nervous with every passing second. Why did she call him if she was just going to stay there and stare at him? He opened his mouth to say something but she interrupted him.

"I have some questions for you, Inuyasha." she said calmly.

"Well, spit them out, damn it!" he stuttered. "I can't fucking read minds... You're making me nervous."

She smiled and continued calmly but firmly. "I see you don't want to tell the others everything and I understand that very well... So, why don't you 'spit it out' to me?" at that his right eye twitched but he didn't answer. "You may not believe this, but I am concerned for you." he gave her a slightly 'yeah, right' look and she smiled. "I fear that this may be the last time we see each other..."

"Alright..." Inuyasha finally gave up and sighed. "You think that Kikyou destroyed the shouki crystal with her arrow, right?" he asked and the old Miko nodded slowly. "Well, she didn't. She destroyed only Naraku's control. I can still feel him and that's how I know where to find him. I didn't tell you because I knew that you'd panic even more."

"Do I look like I am in panic?" Kaede asked and raised a brow.

"Of course you wouldn't panic, but you see how the others react at every sound I make." he protested.

"I know." she nodded and walked closer to him. Taking his right arm she pulled him toward the door. "This is a very dangerous situation, Inuyasha. Be careful. I want you to come back after this."

"You bet I will." the hanyou said firmly and after surprising her by bowing at her, he exited the hut.

After finding his friends and explaining them rather violently that they weren't allowed to know what he talked about with Kaede, the group was off. They traveled until noon and Inuyasha suddenly decided to stop on one particular clearing. While they were traveling he had made some really suspicious things and that sudden decision to stop was the last thing that his friends needed to confront him.

"Start talking, Inuyasha." Kagome said angry but firmly, placing her hands on her hips.

He made a step back and swallowed hard. He knew that a situation like this was inevitable but he hadn't come up with a suitable explanation, yet. The first thing that he had to explain was that he hadn't wanted to tell his friends where exactly was Naraku's castle. The second thing was that he kept mistaking directions and got lost at least seven times, and despite that he still held on his earlier statement that he knew where the castle was.

"That's right, Inuyasha." Miroku was the next to confront him and Sango and Shippo joined his and Kagome's side to glare at him.

"You are hiding something from us." the small kitsune accused him and Kirara mewed in agreement, jumping on the demon exterminator's shoulder. "You better tell us right now, or..."

Inuyasha wasn't really listening to them, trying to come up with an explanation, but hearing Shippo's threat something seemed to snap inside him. He looked at the kitsune and narrowed his eyes. "Or what?" he hissed and made a step closer toward the people in front of him. "What do you think you can do to me, huh? Come on, tell me..."

Kagome stiffened, alarm bells went off in the back of her head and she eyed him carefully. His voice was too quiet, too calm. He almost crooned the words. Although she had never seen him do this before, and definitely she hadn't expected him to get angry at a harmless creature like Shippo, she instantly knew that this was not good. Inuyasha had become a terrifying sight, he even cracked his fingers and the others' eyes widened in disbelief.

Deciding that this couldn't go on, Kagome ran toward the hanyou and placing her hands on his shoulders, tried to push him back. "Calm down, Inuyasha. We won't question you anymore if you don't want." she said and her touch seemed to bring him back to his senses.

"Kagome?" he looked down at her confused and then at his friends' almost terrified faces. "What... I..."

"Don't worry, everything's alright." the girl tried to assure him and turning to ward the others made them a sign to leave them. "Miroku-sama and Sango-chan are going to make a camp. Let's go over there." she pointed at a nearby tree and pulled him with her.

The others sighed in relief and hurriedly walked away from the girl and the hanyou. Whatever Inuyasha was about to do, they were sure that he wasn't actually aware of his actions. Actually if it wasn't Kagome's interference they were sure that the hanyou was going to do something he really was going to regret later, so they were thankful to her.

Inuyasha held his right hand on his forehead while Kagome helped him sit under the tree. She sat at his right side and removed his hand to check if he had fever. When she was sure that he was alright she sighed and leaned her back to the tree trunk without saying even a word. He looked at her with the corner of his eyes but didn't say anything too. They both stayed silent for a while and finally Kagome decided that he was calm enough to answer to her questions.

"Inuyasha..." she started hesitantly but he interrupted her.

"I don't know what happened to me." he said quietly, not turning to look at her. "I-I just..."

"Alright, Inuyasha, don't talk." Kagome placed one hand on his shoulder and he stopped to look at her. "Obviously you're not well enough to travel. Why don't we go back to..."

"No way!" he almost yelled at her and she pulled her hand away, startled. "I... I mean... We can't let Naraku get away!"

"Please, Inuyasha..." Kagome surprised him – she was actually pleading him to back away from an upcoming fight, a fight that could end their dangerous journey once and for all. "Every time we know where to find Naraku something bad happens. And now, with your condition, it is worse than ever!"

"And what's with my condition?" the hanyou snapped at her. "I am fine, don't you get that? If you keep insisting that we go back, I'll continue by myself." he said and started to stand up.

"No, Inuyasha, stay here." Kagome caught his hand and pulled him back down. "I won't make you go back, but please don't push yourself too hard."

He eyed her angrily and crossed his arms in front of his chest, but not after he 'feh'ed to show her that he would do whatever he wants. "Alright. But I don't want anymore stupid questions, we go wherever I say and do whatever I say, ok?"

"Ok." Kagome smiled at him and leaned on his shoulder. He stiffened and made an embarrassed sound in the back of his throat, and she smiled again. "I'll say that to the others. But don't be mad at them – they're just worried."

"Humph." was his only answer as he relaxed.

They stayed silent for a while and being really tired, although he wouldn't admit it, Inuyasha started to feel sleepy. Kagome noticed how his whole body started to relax and under her weight on his right side he started to lean to the left. She lifted her head to look at his face and smiled when she saw that his eyes were closed, his head was slowly leaning forward and his ears were flattened to his hair. Suddenly an idea popped up in her mind and she straightened, startling him. He looked at her confused with slightly dazed eyes.

"Inuyasha, do you like your ears being massaged?" she asked and by the widening of his eyes, Kagome knew that he was more than startled.

"I-I... What?" he asked, his voice cracking a little and his face drained from its color – that question was clearly a shock for him.

Sighing, she motioned to him with one hand toward her lap. "Lay down." she said and he frantically shook his head. Right now she was sure that he wanted to run away as fast as he could, and he would've done that if he didn't know that she would sit him if he tried. "Don't look at me like that, you're making me even more embarrassed than I already am. Come on!"

Inuyasha swallowed hard and cleared his throat. He glanced at where he knew the others were but couldn't see them because of the bushes that were hiding the camp. "What if the others see us?" he whispered, his whole face flushed.

"Inuyasha," Kagome sighed in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "It's not that we're doing something..." her already blushing face reddened even more. "Um...you know..."

"Yea, yeah..." the hanyou said nervously and without another word lied down and rested his head in her lap.

Kagome sighed deeply to calm herself and placed her hands over his ears. Inuyasha's eyes were tightly closed and she could've sworn that he hadn't been more nervous in his entire life. His whole body was tensed and the moment she touched his ears he winced. Determined to make him feel better, she started slowly massaging their base. As she continued with her ministrations, he gradually started to relax as sleep overwhelmed him.

Miroku and Sango appeared behind the bushes and startled at what they saw. Kagome made them a sigh to be quiet and nodding they turned and went back to the camp. Inuyasha sighed in his dream and moaned softly, making the girl in whose lap he was laying smile. The game she was playing was dangerous and she knew that – she knew that she loved Inuyasha and wanted to be with him but she also knew that he wasn't ready for her feelings. But one thing was giving her hope – after all he had kissed her and the fact that he agreed to let her touch HIS ears showed that his shell was breaking.

It was night, the sky was cowered with clouds and no moon or starts could be seen. At a small clearing were sitting four creatures, around a small fire – Sesshoumaru, Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un. The dog demon was silent, as always, he kept staring at the fire – obviously in deep thought. Rin and Jaken were fighting over the last fish and Ah-Un was dozing off.

'That stupid hanyou.' Sesshoumaru though and narrowed his eyes. 'He was just trying to get my attention, wandering like that in the forest. There was some kind of energy transfer between him and... I can't define that youki; it is mixing with his too fast...'

"Jaken," the dog demon said and the green demon immediately shut up and ran to his master, leaving the fish to Rin.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" the girl laughed and ran to Ah-Un to eat her food and go to sleep.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken bowed at him and waited for an order or a beating.

"You felt the youki that my brother was absorbing, didn't you?" the dog demon asked indifferently.

"Yes, master." the green demon answered and looked at him a little confused.

"Can you tell whose it was?" Sesshoumaru asked and his servant almost chocked.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, you are asking me?!" Jaken nearly screamed with happiness but received a stone hit on the head. "No, I can't tell whose it was..." he mumbled sadly and went to sit next to Ah-Un and Rin. "It was too good to be true..."

'It may be only Naraku's youki.' the dog demon resumed staring in the fire. 'Inuyasha absorbed a shouki crystal. I didn't see him removing it when he removed the Shikon shards.' he thought and leaned his back to the tree behind him, closing his eyes. 'He wants me to follow him, I will...'

TBC


	27. Chapter TwentySeven

Some time after Kagome had started rubbing his ears, Inuyasha had fallen asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, Kagome had stayed with him until dark. Then Miroku and Sango had come to check on them, only to see that the schoolgirl was also asleep. The demon exterminator had covered her upper body and shoulders with a blanket and she and the monk had left them alone.

"Where are they?" Shippo asked rather loudly when his friends returned to the camp.

"Shh, Shippo-chan," Sango said and placed one finger on her lips. "They are sleeping…"

"Together." Miroku added with a strange smirk.

"You serious?" the small kitsune's eyes widened. "I wanna see this!" he almost yelled and ran toward the bushes.

"No, you're staying here." the demon exterminator caught him by the tail and walked toward Miroku, who had sat by the fire. She handed the kid to him and eyed him angrily. "You both stay quiet and don't you dare go spy on Kagome-chan and Inuyasha."

"As you wish, Sango, my dear!" the monk grinned and patted Shippo on the head. "We'll be good, we promise."

"Idiot." the small kitsune grunted and crossed his arms over his chest.

Sango smiled and sat on the grass at the other side of the camp fire. Kirara mewed sweetly and jumped in her lap. The young woman giggled and ruffled the small cat demon's tail. The four friends stayed quiet, just watching the fire. Shippo was still angry for not being able to see Inuyasha and Kagome but was slowly falling asleep, Kirara was busy trying to make herself more comfortable, and Sango and Miroku were lost in their own thoughts.

'Inuyasha is hiding something, I'm sure of it.' the monk thought and frowned. 'There is this strange aura around him… His own youki is loosing itself in it…' as he was thinking, he missed to notice the slightly concerned look that Sango was giving him.

'Houshi-sama is feeling it too.' she thought, as if reading his mind, and bit her bottom lip. 'It definitely has something to do with Naraku and that shouki crystal…' suddenly an idea crossed her mind and she gasped.

Miroku heard her and lifted his head to look at her in question. She swallowed hard and after she was sure that Shippo was asleep in the monk's lap, she leaned slightly forward. Kirara mewed and tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Houshi-sama," the demon exterminator whispered. "What if the shouki crystal wasn't destroyed?"

Miroku remained silent and seemed unshaken from such an option. "I thought about that too." he said calmly. "This would explain his outburst earlier."

"You think it's safe to leave Kagome-chan alone with him?" Sango asked worriedly and looked toward the bushes.

"I'm not quite sure, but if she's not with him it'll get worse." the monk said again as calmly as before.

"Yea, I guess you're right." the demon exterminator sighed and relaxed a bit. "After all she calmed him down." she pointed out, only trying to convince herself that there was nothing too bad to worry about.

"We'll talk with Kagome-sama tomorrow." Miroku smiled. "Let's go to sleep now." he suggested and careful not to wake Shippo up, made himself comfortable on the ground.

"Ok, good night, Houshi-sama." Sango said and followed his example.

Although they were very tired, not physically but rather emotionally, the two couldn't fall asleep. They were still too worried for Inuyasha. Ever since they started this trip to Naraku's castle, there's been this strange feeling of dread. It told them that something bad was going to happen and the constantly staying alert was tiring them.

Finally the tiredness overwhelmed them and about midnight the two humans were sleeping. The kitsune was loudly snoring next to Miroku but that didn't seem to bother them. Only Kirara was awake. She had decided to stay on guard just in case – the small cat demon knew what was happening with her hanyou friend and keeping them all safe was the least she could do.

Some time during the night Inuyasha woke up, having difficulties breathing. He snapped his eyes open and all he saw was darkness. In the panic he sat up and barely managed to stop himself from yelling Kagome's name, when he saw that the thing that was on his head was just a blanket. It was the same blanket that Sango had covered Kagome with.

"This is so embarrassing…" Inuyasha mumbled under his breath, while removing the blanket. He turned to Kagome and sighed in relief when he saw that she was asleep. "Getting scared by a blanket… Feh, stupid idiot…" the hanyou continued mumbling while carefully shifting Kagome so that she was lying and covering her.

When he was ready, he just sat next to her and watched her face. She looked so peaceful… maybe because she thought that she was protected. 'For now…' Inuyasha found himself thinking and shook his head to chase that thought away and so may others along with it.

He shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. All bad things that had happened until now kept running through his mind and he just couldn't seem to get rid of them. Somehow he knew that this was going to happen – the closer he got to Naraku, the stronger he felt and the darker his thoughts became. 'I tried to attack my friends, damn it!' he thought and held his hands on his head. 'If Kagome wasn't there…'

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and saw her smiling face. She was obviously having a good dream and the thought of her being happy seemed to calm his nerves. His eyes softened and he allowed himself a small smile that widened when she giggled in her sleep. Then he caught himself leaning closer toward her.

Kagome woke up feeling a dark shadow above her. She opened her eyes and almost couldn't stop herself from screaming when she saw that Inuyasha was the shadow. His hands were placed on the ground at both her sides and he was worriedly looking around. She shut her eyes tightly and fisted her hands under the blanket.

'Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me!' she thought and felt his breath on her lips. 'Yes!' she screamed in her mind and more then gladly wrapped her arms around his neck when she felt him kiss her.

Inuyasha startled when she hugged him and imagine the shock when she responded to his kiss. Although his first thought and reaction was to pull away and run as fast as he could, he fell on top of her. His arms just refused to hold his weight any longer – the feel of Kagome was too overwhelming. His heavy body crashed over hers, knocking their breaths out and she gasped in his mouth. Inuyasha was too stunned because of being caught and just forgot breathing.

The moment he was back to reality, the hanyou moved away from Kagome, stumbling and falling on his behind on the ground. The girl sat up, holding one hand on her chest and supporting herself with the other, trying to catch her breath. Inuyasha didn't dare to move. He felt so guilty that he even couldn't look at her.

The time was perfect for him to run away, before she was calm enough to sit him, but he didn't move from his place. 'This time I really deserve it.' he thought miserably and sat cross-legged, his hands gripping his legs.

Kagome gradually calmed down and coughed a few times, before finally looking at Inuyasha. Seeing the way he sat and the fact that he was finding the grass a lot more interesting than her, told her how exactly he felt. She could even swear that she knew what he was thinking. She crawled toward him and kneeled in front of him, waiting for him to say something.

'She wants a closer look when I'm slamming in the ground.' he thought even more miserably than before. It could be really frustrating when he gets things wrong, don't you think?

"Inuyasha," Kagome said and placing her right hand under his chin, she lifted his head. The look he gave her was enough for her to forgive him even if he had kissed Kikyou instead of her. Everything she wanted to tell him suddenly vanished from her head and she did the only thing she thought of – she kissed him.

The hanyou's eyes widened in shock and right now he just couldn't find the courage to kiss her back, even if he wanted to. That was the first time she was kissing him by her own will, well if we don't count the kiss in Kaguya's castle of course. That made his heart beat faster, the blood in his veins run hotter, and every dark thought he had before disappeared like it had never been there.

Kagome pulled away and smiled at him. "Don't say anything now. I've waited until now, I guess I can wait a while longer." she said softly and leaned toward him again.

This time he didn't hesitate. Standing on his knees and wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her as close as possible. He kissed her with such passion that she thought that her head was going to blow up. When the kiss ended he held her in his arms and nuzzled her neck, inhaling deeply her scent. 'I love you.' he thought but somehow didn't feel ready to say it out loud.

"That was… unexpected…" Kagome panted against his shoulder and relaxing in his arms, she let him shift her so that she was sitting in his lap.

"You ok like that?" Inuyasha asked a little hesitantly and received only a muffled 'yes' from the already falling asleep girl. He sighed and closed his eyes, happy to hold her in his arms if only for a night.

TBC


	28. Chapter TwentyEight

The next morning the group was on its way again. Kagome had explained to the others about Inuyasha's conditions and they had agreed not to question his actions anymore. Although that was supposed to make the hanyou stop snapping at everything they said and better his mood, it didn't. He was talking calmly only with Kagome and only when the others couldn't hear them. The rest of the time he was silent and didn't stop glaring at everybody and everything.

Before they had started traveling this morning, he had noticed something strange in Miroku and Sango's behavior. They seemed kind of mysterious and wanted to take Kagome as far away from him as possible, but of course he hadn't allowed them that. It was obvious that they were suspecting what he was hiding and he had absolutely no intention of letting them tell Kagome. And that was the reason he acted so aggressive toward them and kept the schoolgirl away from them.

"Inuyasha, I sense a Shikon shard." Kagome's voice took him out of his thoughts, as they were crossing a large clearing in a thick forest. "It must be Kouga-kun's." as soon as she had finished talking the familiar whirlwind appeared and they all stopped.

"What's up, guys?" Kouga asked grinning, but didn't go to Kagome like he usually did. He was still cautions of Inuyasha and who could blame him?

"Hi, Kouga-kun." the schoolgirl smiled at him and the hanyou let her off of his back. "What are you doing here?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing." the wolf demon scratched the top of his head. "You're in my tribe's lands…"

"That's none of your business, fleabag." Inuyasha snarled and placed one hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt.

"Inuyasha," Kagome rolled her eyes and held his hand. "We are going to Naraku's castle…"

"Kagome!" the hanyou yelled at her.

Kouga's eyes widened and since he couldn't get a proper answer from the currently fighting boy and girl in front of him, he looked at Miroku and Sango. They nodded their yes and the wolf demon turned his attention back to Kagome and Inuyasha. He knew that it was impossible to make them stop fighting, but he knew that sooner or later Kagome would win and they would tell him everything.

"Oh, come on, Inuyasha." the girl said getting a little irritated. "Don't you think Kouga-kun deserves to know?"

"No, he doesn't!" the hanyou snapped at her.

"Kagome-sama is ri…" Miroku started but was interrupted by Sango's tug on his left sleeve and Inuyasha's glare.

"Nobody asked you." he snarled and turned back to Kouga. "And you better give us that shard."

"No way, dog-face!" the wolf demon yelled and prepared to attack.

"We'll see that!" Inuyasha smirked and drew out his sword.

"Sit." was the word that stopped him from jumping at Kouga. Happy to have made him shut up Kagome walked to the wolf demon, leaving the hanyou to curse on the ground.

"You've always been the most reasonable here, Kagome." Kouga smiled at her.

"Thank you, Kouga-kun." the girl smiled back and the two would have stayed silent and staring at each other, if Miroku hadn't cleared his throat to remind them what they were there for.

"Uh, w-what were you saying about Naraku's castle?" the wolf demon asked a little embarrassed.

"Inuyasha knows where it is." Kagome explained quickly. "It's a long story." she said when she saw the unbelieving look that Kouga was giving her.

"Oh…" he nodded. "So, where is it?"

"Inuyasha doesn't want to tell us." Shippo said angrily, jumping on Kagome's left shoulder.

"Sit." she said when she saw that the effect of the spell was wearing off and that the hanyou was trying to get up, and he crashed to the ground again. "You can travel with us if you want…"

"Kagome-chan, I don't think Inuyasha would…" Sango said hesitantly.

Later that day the familiar whirlwind was whirling next to the running hanyou. Yes, the group was off again and Kouga was traveling with them. It hadn't been so easy to convince Inuyasha to take him with them, but after a few more sits and a kiss on the hanyou's cheek everything was settled.

While they ran, Inuyasha couldn't help but smirk at his good acting. He knew that Sesshoumaru was already following, so he had to find Kouga too. He had purposely entered the wolf demon's lands and had pretended to not want him with them only to fool his friends. And we can't forget the kiss he received from Kagome – the look on Kouga's face was priceless.

"C'mon, dog-butt, can't you go any faster?" the wolf demon teased, but Inuyasha ignored him.

"You want to show him how fast we can be?" the hanyou asked Kagome loud enough so that only she could hear him. The slight nod and the way she tightened her grip on him was enough for him.

Before Kouga could understand what was happening, Inuyasha lined up with Kirara and after telling his friends that he was going to wait for them at the foot of the mountain up ahead, he was again running at top speed. The wolf demon tried desperately to catch up with him but all he could do was to stay in range to hear Kagome's laugh.

The others laughed too and the fact that Inuyasha was actually having fun gave them hope. It meant that if the shouki crystal was still in his body, as they thought, its dark power wasn't affecting him that much. Finally tired of chasing the hanyou and Kagome, Kouga reunited with the rest of the group, but not before pretending to have hurt his leg.

"I haven't seen him run so fast, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken said from his place on Ah-Un's back.

'Me too.' the dog demon thought, as he was flying ahead of the two-headed demon.

"Aren't we going to stop for the night, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin yawned from behind Jaken and leaned herself on his back.

"Be quiet…and get off of me… Stupid girl…" the green demon snapped at her and tried to push her off of him, but a small stone hit his head. "I'm sorry…" he whined and left the girl alone.

'I wish to see Naraku's face when he learns how strong Inuyasha has gotten…' Sesshoumaru thought and smirked. 'I wonder if he knows just how much energy my brother absorbs from him through their connection.'

Naraku was on the balcony of his dark room. He was high in the mountain and was looking down at the forest below. His castle was inside the mountain and only the room in which he usually stayed was outside the rocks. After some time he lost patience and started walking back and forth, the wooden floor creaking under his feet. He was obviously waiting for someone and the absence of that person was making him extremely nervous.

Suddenly, as if feeling something, he stopped and looked at the sky – Hakudoshi was flying toward him. The boy landed in front of his master and canceled his barrier, then bowed slightly before speaking to the impatient Naraku.

"Inuyasha and Kagome will soon be at the foot of the mountain." Hakudoshi said rather indifferently and that mad his master to frown and grit his teeth in anger. "His friends aren't far behind. Only Sesshoumaru and his companions are following him closely."

'So that son of a bitch is bringing his brother with him.' Naraku thought and the fact that he could feel Kouga's Shikon shard closing enraged him even more. 'He is gathering all my enemies…'

"Naraku," Hakudoshi's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he looked at him in question. "What are your orders?"

"Meet up with Kohaku and wait for me." the evil hanyou said and after nodding the boy flew away.

'The baby is hidden – I cannot be harmed.' Naraku thought and smirked to himself. 'He thinks he can kill me that easily?' he laughed out loud. 'All my enemies in one place – I will enjoy killing them all!'

TBC


	29. Chapter TwentyNine

The sun was setting when Inuyasha and Kagome reached the foot of the mountain. They stopped on a small clearing, surrounded by big and thick trees. Their shadows were covering almost the whole clearing and were making it rather creepy, well at least by Kagome's standards. She kept hugging the hanyou's right arm while they made their way to the farthest side of the clearing.

"Relax, Kagome, we've been in worse places." Inuyasha tried to calm her down, but obviously he wasn't doing much, as she hugged him tighter and the pink blush on his face reddened slightly.

He wasn't feeling uncomfortable of something like that. The thought that his friends and that mangy wolf could come and see them, even if they weren't actually doing anything… you know, was what made him extremely uneasy and nervous. In the last few days the hanyou had realized that whenever he was alone with Kagome, he could do practically everything, talk about everything, without being embarrassed or afraid that she would go away if he said or did something wrong.

Kagome accepted him for what he was, not for what he could be or what he had been before. He knew that but somehow, he always needed something to prove it. It wasn't that he didn't trust her; it wasn't that he didn't love her – it was completely the opposite. But considering the life he was living, what could he give her?

"Hey, Inuyasha?" her voice and the tug on his right sleeve brought him back to reality and he saw that they had stopped walking. "What is it?"

"Oh nothing, just thinking." he shrugged and sat down on the ground, cross-legged. He rolled his eyes when Kagome kneeled next to him without letting go of his arm and leaned on him.

"When are the others coming?" she asked quietly, mostly talking to herself.

"Soon." was all he said and yawned loudly.

"Put your hand before your mouth." Kagome scowled him. "How many times must I tell…" her words trailed off, seeing how his eyes turned aside – he did that only when he was upset about something.

"I'll remember the next time." he said sadly and continued to stare at the grass.

"Inuyasha, look at me." Kagome demanded and turned his head toward her with her right hand. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." he said and again tried to look away, but she didn't let him go and narrowed her ayes at him, waiting for a proper answer. "I said it's nothing, damn it!" he almost yelled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, don't let me go!" Kagome screamed and threw her arms around his neck, causing him to loose balance and his back and head to hit the tree behind him.

"Careful, Kagome!" he said and she tightened her hold on him, burying her face in his neck. "The hell…" he muttered when he felt something soft and round in his arms. His eyes widened and his face flushed in the deepest shade of red. When Kagome had thrown herself at him, he had tried to catch her. Obviously he had done that but the places his hands were… My, oh my – this was his end.

Inuyasha didn't dare to move. It seemed that Kagome hadn't noticed where his hands were and he didn't really want her to understand. Right now he was willing to kill himself than let her see where he was holding her. On the other hand, she wasn't helping him at all and he almost bit off a part of his tongue when she shifted and sat in his lap.

She pressed herself closer to him, while moving, and he involuntary squeezed her breasts. That made her gasp and stiffen. Her eyes widened and she bit her bottom lip. She noticed Inuyasha gulp and followed his example. Kagome pulled away slightly and the hanyou quickly hid his hands behind his back. Too lost from embarrassment, neither of them made an attempt to at least look at the other.

Suddenly, loud voices were heard, calling their names and that seemed to make them come back to reality. Kagome jumped away from Inuyasha, not daring to look at him, and he just leaped up in the tree and was off in the forest. A second later, Kouga and the others were at the clearing. The wolf demon was left in total confusion when he saw the furiously blushing girl. The others smiled to themselves and didn't say anything. Considering the way the hanyou and the girl had slept the previous night, it wasn't so surprising that Kagome was blushing and Inuyasha was nowhere to be found.

Some time during the night, Inuyasha came back. Nobody was asleep and he thought that this would be a good opportunity to tell them his plan of attack. They all gathered around the small camp fire and waited for him to start talking.

"Naraku's castle is very close." she started. "Tomorrow we will be there. We will separate in two groups…"

"I want to be with Kagome." Kouga stated firmly and suddenly a stone hit him in the back of his head.

Everybody turned toward the direction the stone had come from and they saw Sesshoumaru walk in the clearing. Ah-Un, Jaken and Rin were following him. He stopped a meter away from the group around the fire and after warning Kouga to be quiet with a cold glare, looked at Inuyasha – as if telling him to continue.

"You all know that Naraku can be killed only if we first kill his baby, right?" the hanyou asked and everybody nodded. "Naraku is hiding the baby up in the mountain. Kagura and Kanna are protecting it. The first group will go there – Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Kouga and Ah-Un." he pointed every one of them.

"I won't ask how you know all that." Miroku said and Inuyasha just nodded. "How are we going to find the place they are hiding?"

"There is a small cave at the peak, protected by a barrier. You will feel its power when you are close enough." the hanyou explained.

The only one who wasn't pleased with his mission was Kouga. It sounded like the only ones who were going to fight Naraku were Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kagome. But when he thought about it better, he would get the chance to fight with Kagura. After all, she was the one who killed his men, and if they managed to take care of the baby his group would practically be the winning one.

"The second group will go to Naraku's castle to win time for the first one – Sesshoumaru, Kagome and I." Inuyasha said and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for objections.

"Wait a minute!" Shippo was the first and actually the only one to disagree. "What about me? I want to be in a group too!"

"You, Rin and Jaken will stay here." the hanyou said firmly. "Otherwise you will just get in the way."

The small kitsune was about to start shouting again but hearing his last words, he bit the inside of his left cheek and stayed quiet. Inuyasha sounded just like his brother and that made him shiver. Things were really serious this time since even Sesshoumaru listened to his half brother. And no matter how much Shippo wanted to see Naraku dead, he knew that Inuyasha was right.

Nobody said anything and they all went to sleep. Sango was the one that seemed to be the most worried. She knew that Kohaku was going to fight against Inuyasha and she feared the worst. But then she looked at the hanyou and as if reading her mind, he cracked a small smile and shook his head. The demon exterminator sighed deeply, trying to calm herself. What was she thinking?! Of course Inuyasha wouldn't kill her brother. He would do his best to keep him alive.

Only Kagome stayed awake. She looked at her friends and just couldn't stop wondering how they could sleep after knowing what was going to happen tomorrow. Sighing, she turned her head to look at Inuyasha. He was sitting under a nearby tree, his back leaned to the tree trunk and his eyes closed. Although his body was relaxed, Kagome knew him better than that. Continuing to look at him made her remember what had happened earlier and she shut her eyes tightly, her cheeks reddening a little.

"Go to sleep already." the hanyou's soft voice just centimeters away from her, startled her and she opened her ayes. "I'm sorry for earlier." he said quietly and sat next to her.

"It was my fault." Kagome whispered, finding the fire very interesting at the moment. "I shouldn't have jumped on you like that." she said and lied on her blanket.

Inuyasha stayed silent for a while and then, after sighing, he removed his haori and covered her with it. "Good night." he said and started to stand up but she caught his left hand.

"Stay here." Kagome whispered. "This place gives me the creeps, remember?" she smiled at him and after smiling back, the hanyou sat down.

The sun hadn't risen up yet, when the two groups separated and headed toward their destinations. Since Kouga couldn't fly, he had to ride on Ah-Un's back, and Miroku and Sango were on Kirara's back. Inuyasha, Kagome and Sesshoumaru walked up in the mountain, and Jaken, Rin and Shippo remained at the camp to wait for their return.

"Do you think they'll be alright, Shippo-chan?" Rin suddenly asked.

"Only Sesshoumaru-sama will come out of this alive!" Jaken stated proudly.

"Idiot." Shippo muttered. "Of course they'll be alright." he then turned to Rin and smiled at her.

Suddenly a faint rustling was heard in the bushes behind them and they all turned toward the direction the noise was coming from. Thinking that this was his chance to prove to Shippo that he was also strong, Jaken jumped in front of the two kids and held his staff toward the bushes.

"Who's there?" the green demon yelled, but nobody answered him.

"What if Naraku sent someone for us too?" Rin suggested quietly and moved closer to Shippo.

Hearing that, Jaken's hands started shaking slightly and he swallowed hard. Rin grabbed the top of Shippo's tail and held her tightly to herself. The kitsune was feeling rather uncomfortable but right now he felt more like the hero of the day. Having the advantage his good sense of smell gave him, he had already smelled who was coming.

"Don't worry, Rin." he said calmly and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look firm and unshaken. "Kikyou's coming." he said when Jaken turned to look at him too.

"Yes, I am." the Miko's voice was heard as she walked in the clearing, her soul snatchers following her. "And I guess I am a little late."

"Go away, you undead creature!" Jaken yelled and swung his staff in front of her, thinking that this would scare her.

Noticing the cold look that the undead Miko suddenly shot toward the really annoying demon, Shippo decided to step in the conversation. "Don't waste time with him." the small kitsune said and walked toward her, dragging Rin with him. The girl just wouldn't let go of his tail.

"I came to see Inuyasha." Kikyou said calmly and looked at the two kids again.

"You just missed him." the boy said. "Inuyasha, Kagome and Sesshoumaru went this way," he pointed toward the forest, "and the others that way." he pointed toward the top of the mountain.

"I see." the Miko nodded thoughtfully. "They are going after the baby, right?" she asked and the small kitsune nodded.

"Kikyou, may I ask you something?" Shippo asked after a moment.

"Yes." she nodded. "What is it?"

"You couldn't destroy the shouki crystal… It's still in Inuyasha, isn't it?" he asked, his eyes showing that he already knew the answer.

"Yes, it's still in him." Kikyou answered and walked in the direction the hanyou had gone.

TBC


	30. Chapter Thirty

Kirara and Ah-Un had been flying for almost an hour before they finally reached the peak. They stopped in the air and waited for the people on their backs to decide what to do. Kouga sniffed the air and cursed when he didn't catch Kagura's scent. Miroku and Sango looked around but they also couldn't feel anything.

"Let's go that way." the monk pointed at the right side of the mountain and the cat demon flew toward the new destination, Ah-Un followed.

Soon enough Miroku felt a strange force that seemed to push him away. When he looked at the place where he thought the source of the power was, he didn't see anything suspicious – just rocks. He told Kirara to stop and closed his eyes, starting to chant something. A vision of the rocks in front of him appeared in his mind, and as he continued chanting, a cave entrance appeared.

"Houshi-sama?" Sango looked at him in confusion when she saw him smirk.

"The cave is right there." he threw an ofuda, opening his eyes in the process. The ofuda pasted on the rocks and after pulsing a few times, the barrier shattered into pieces and the cave entrance appeared.

Suddenly, Kouga sniffed the air. "Watch out!" he yelled at the two humans and a few wind blades flew out of the cave.

Miroku and Sango didn't even have the time to blink, as Kirara, having sensed the attack too, easily avoided it. Kouga sighed in relief and just when he was going to ask his human friends if they were alright, Kagura stepped outside of the cave.

"What are you doing here?" she asked a little surprised.

"Where is the baby?" Miroku demanded, pointing his staff toward her.

"That's why Naraku sent us here." the wind sorceress said mostly to herself, not paying attention to her attackers. "So, where are Inuyasha and his annoying girl?"

"Worry about him in Hell!" Kouga yelled and drew out his sword, standing up on Ah-Un's back, and ready to jump at her.

"I see that Sesshoumaru is here too." Kagura pointed the two-headed creature with her fan. "I bet that he will be the one to…"

"Will you shut the fuck up and fight?!" the wolf demon lost his patience and yelled. He was just about to attack when Sango stopped him.

"No, don't." she said and looked at Kagura. "I don't think she wants to fight."

"Me too." Miroku agreed and released the prayer beads around his right hand. "Will you explain?"

"It's simple." the wind sorceress shrugged. "I will help you get the baby, if you help me take my heart back."

After she finished, everybody remained silent. For Miroku and Sango there wasn't a reason to deny Kagura's offer for alliance. After all, their enemy was Naraku. But the decision wasn't so easy for Kouga. This woman had killed many of his men and he had sworn to take his revenge by killing her, not becoming allies. For him, joining forces with her would mean that he was betraying his men.

"Kouga," Miroku started, realizing what the wolf demon's dilemma was.

"I agree." Kouga said calmly, but then his eyes narrowed at Kagura and his voice became low and threatening. "When this is over, you will fight me, for killing my men."

"Very well." Kagura nodded after a second, and Ah-Un and Kirara landed at the cave entrance. "The baby is inside, Kanna is with it." she said and moved away to let them in.

"Aren't you coming?" Sango asked and eyed her suspiciously.

"I will be right behind you. Kanna mustn't see me." the wind sorceress explained.

"It sounds logical enough." Miroku said and taking the demon exterminator's left hand, pulled her after him inside.

"Just try something funny." Kouga threatened.

"That would make you very happy…" Kagura said sarcastically.

"It would give me the perfect excuse to kill you." the wolf demon stepped closer to her and cracked his fingers, but the damned woman just smirked at him, pissing him off even more than he already was.

"Come on, you two!" Sango's voice was heard and they turned toward the entrance. "You will have enough time for this later."

The two demons 'Humph'ed and followed the humans. Kirara and Ah-Un exchanged looks and lied on the rocks, waiting for their friends to come back. The cat demon didn't transform to her smaller form, just in case if Naraku learns about Kagura's betrayal and sends someone else to help Kanna.

Now, let's see how the other group is doing… Well, considering the fact that it consisted of a stubborn and grumpy hanyou and an arrogant and ignorant dog demon, the atmosphere wasn't very pleasant. The said hanyou was walking ahead, with his hands folded in his sleeves and a serious expression on his face. We can't say for sure what the dog demon's expression was, but it showed that he didn't really think that they would accomplish something with the upcoming battle. Or maybe he was just desperate? Yeah right, like that would ever happen!

There was another person in the group – an about sixteen year old, very good looking and strange clad for the time and age girl. She walked a few steps behind the two men and kept glancing first at Inuyasha, then at Sesshoumaru. She wasn't concerned about the dog demon's behavior – he was always like that. She wanted to talk with Inuyasha but he would never do that in front of his brother. So, she decided that her worries could wait.

"Are we close?" the girl asked after about fifteen minutes of walking.

"Yes." the hanyou answered without turning to look at her. "There's a portal up ahead. It will take us directly to Naraku's castle."

Hearing him talk so confidently did it for Kagome. She had promised not to question him but all this was just getting too much for her. How could he know so much about Naraku's castle?! Suddenly she got it – the shouki crystal. She remembered about that glimpse of the castle, Inuyasha had talked about. Unbelievable! He had…

"I can't believe you lied to me!" she almost yelled, stopping and fisting her hands.

Inuyasha turned around to look at her in pure confusion. Was she talking to him? He would never lie to her, then why… "What?" he asked and stepped closer.

"You lied about the shouki crystal!" Kagome also stepped forward. "It's still inside you, isn't it? That's how you know all that stuff about Naraku."

Being caught completely off guard, the hanyou made a step back and stared at her in shock. He had intended to talk to her about that but, as always, she had rushed the things. "K-Kagome… I-I…"

"Pathetic." Sesshoumaru's voice startled them. He was standing aside and was silently watching the show, until now. "Considering your reaction, I see why he hasn't told you." he said coldly and Kagome looked aside, obviously ashamed of her behavior. "Shall we go now?"

"I… Um… Yeah…" Inuyasha stuttered and grabbing Kagome by her right hand, pulled her with him. "That was creepy." he said after they were a good ten meters ahead of the dog demon.

"I'm sorry." Kagome said quietly and tried to pull her hand away, but he held her tighter.

"No, I should've told you earlier." the hanyou whispered, turning half way to look at his brother. "I really didn't mean to lie to you."

"I know." the girl sighed and lifted her head to look at him. "Sesshoumaru, defending you, was more than creepy." she said and Inuyasha tripped. "Be careful!" she laughed.

The three walked for another fifteen minutes and reached the end of the forest, where the rocks became vertical. They stopped and looked up. The mountain was really high and they were thankful for the portal. Otherwise, they would have to climb on foot. Not that this was a problem but anyway, the other way was easier and safer.

"Is that it?" Sesshoumaru asked and looked at the rocks in front of them. One pretty big rock didn't exactly fit among the others.

"Yeah." Inuyasha nodded and stepped ahead. He reached forward with his right hand and it disappeared up to the wrist.

A few ripples, as if his hand was in water, appeared. Still holding Kagome with his other hand, Inuyasha pulled her with him as he entered the portal. Sesshoumaru waited for them to disappear completely and followed them. The next thing he knew was that the three were again together in a long and dark hallway.

TBC


	31. Chapter ThirtyOne

The small group of a hanyou, a dog demon and a human girl had been walking around Naraku's castle for about half an hour now. They entered room after room, the next one darker and bigger than the previous. Inuyasha was the one leading the way and was already enraged beyond belief. Kagome was walking by his right side, not really bothering how long they were going to walk around, as long as she stayed with the hanyou.

Believe it or not, even Sesshoumaru, who was walking behind the pair, was extremely annoyed and wanted more than ever to go and get his half brother, and rip his head off. But he had to suppress those urges and grit his teeth. Under other circumstances he would have at least beaten some sense in his thick head, but now things were more complicated. "How long are you going to waste my time?" he asked coldly.

"It's not my fucking fault that Naraku's shouki is everywhere! I can't concentrate!" Inuyasha turned to yell at the dog demon, who completely ignored him, and that of course enraged him even more.

"Calm down, Inuyasha!" Kagome tried to reason with him. With all this shouki around, it was a miracle that the hanyou hadn't gone wild like when he almost attacked Miroku, Sango and Shippo. "Be quiet or Naraku will find us."

"Feh. Whatever." Inuyasha snorted and they started walking again. It wasn't long before he snapped again. "Can't I just blast the damned thing?!" he yelled and drew out Tetsusaiga.

"Just try." suddenly, Sesshoumaru was in front of him, pointing Tokijin at his throat. "I have no intention to die here with you."

"Come on, you two…" Kagome tried to calm down the growling hanyou and the glaring dog demon. "Of course we won't blow up the castle! Right, Inuyasha?" she narrowed her eyes at him and he backed off.

Naraku was sitting in his dark room, meditating. After a while, he opened his eyes and stood up, heading toward the door that led to the balcony. As he exited the room, he saw Hakudoshi and Kohaku flying toward him. He didn't show it but the fact that they were practically disregarding his orders, made him extremely angry.

"What is the meaning of this?" the evil hanyou asked through gritted teeth, once the two boys landed.

"I don't know how to explain this…" Hakudoshi started after canceling his barrier and for the first time looking a little uneasy. "Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kagome disappeared."

"Ridiculous!" Naraku exclaimed, but caught himself before starting to yell and tried to stay calm.

"We followed them to the end of the forest and then they were gone." Kohaku finished for Hakudoshi, a strange hint of amusement in his voice.

'The portal.' Naraku thought and his eyes widened slightly, realizing that the hanyou was already in the castle. 'How does he know about the portal? Only I use it…'

"What about his other companions?" he suddenly asked out loud.

"T-They are gone too…" the white-haired boy said a little hesitantly.

"Gone?" this time his master's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know how," the boy continued. "You told us to watch only Inuyasha. I just can't feel their presence anymore."

Naraku stayed silent for a long time. There were too many problems and he just couldn't decide which one was a bigger threat. A feeling of panic crawled inside his mind but he did his best to ignore it. Since he had given that shouki crystal to Inuyasha, there were only problems on his head– first the hanyou turned to be stronger than he had expected and couldn't make him his servant; then Kikyou had destroyed his control over Inuyasha just when he was about to overtake him, and now every enemy of his was about to attack him.

"Inuyasha is in the castle." he suddenly said and narrowed his eyes at Kohaku, when he saw him fist his right hand. "Follow me." with that he turned around and walked inside.

Inuyasha and his two companions entered another room, which was even darker than the previous ones. It was so dark that there was no way to say exactly how big it was. Growling quietly, the hanyou placed a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt, ready to draw it out. Seeing that he was loosing control over his emotions, Kagome put one hand over his and he seemed to calm down a little.

"That was the last room." Sesshoumaru stated coldly.

"You think I don't know that?!" Inuyasha snarled and suddenly the door behind them shut with a loud bang.

The three whirled around and saw how the door seemed to move back, away from them. Then everything started shaking. The two brothers managed to keep their balance and Kagome held Inuyasha's left hand tightly. After a while the shaking stopped and the hanyou and the dog demon drew their swords out. Slowly, the darkness seemed to fade away and the three companions almost gaped at what they saw.

They weren't in a room at all, well not anymore. The whole castle had disappeared and now on its place was an enormous cave. It was at least thirty meters high and a hundred meters wide. The floor was wooden, showing that the whole cave had once been the castle. Even Sesshoumaru was surprised, but of course he didn't show it. All of a sudden, Inuyasha was too irritated to waste time in anything, and the only one that was looking around in awe was Kagome.

"He's here." the hanyou said and that caught the girl and the dog demon's attention.

Miroku and Sango walked ahead of Kagura and Kouga, who had finally quieted down. They reached the entrance of a slightly larger cave and the wind sorceress told them to stop. She took a feather from her hair and handed it to Miroku. She explained that the entrance was protected by a barrier and he had to draw a pentagram on it, in order to be able to enter.

"The barrier is created by Kanna's mirror, so right now she is defenseless." Kagura said and stepped back. "Be careful of the baby – don't look him in the eyes and don't touch him. If you do that you will be possessed."

Everybody nodded and turned toward the entrance. They saw Kanna sitting on a rock in the farthest side of the cave, with her back on them. She was holding something – most likely the baby, since it was nowhere to be seen. Miroku reached with his right hand forward and the feather came in contact with something. He knew that it had to be the barrier and slowly drew a small pentagram. After a second or two it started glowing in red light and grew larger until it was big enough for them to pass, and that's exactly what they did. Only Kagura stayed outside.

"This should be easy." Kouga said quietly when the white girl didn't even move to acknowledge their presence.

However, Miroku and Sango weren't so sure. Although Kagura wasn't there to protect her and the baby and she didn't have her mirror, they knew that they had to be extremely careful. There was something strange about Kanna, which was making the two humans nervous. Kouga drew out his sword and made a several steps toward her. Suddenly, she stood up and slowly turned toward them. Now even the wolf demon knew that something wasn't right with her. Kagura gasped when she saw Kanna's black eyes. The girl was possessed, no doubt about that.

"Kagura is dead?" Kanna asked with the baby's voice. "I newer thought she was worth living, anyway." hearing that, the wind sorceress gritted her teeth in anger but managed to stay calm and didn't come out.

"Shut up and prepare to die." Kouga snarled and pointed his sword at the baby in Kanna's arms.

Sango held her Hiraikotsu ready to throw it and Miroku removed his prayer beads from around his right hand. Although they seemed to have the upper hand in the upcoming fight, they were still cautious. Kagura was a strong demon and a formidable opponent, and if she was afraid of the baby, so were they. Without saying another word, Kanna and the baby started glowing in blue light and about ten sharp and long rocks flew toward the three companions.

While jumping aside to avoid one pretty large rock, Sango threw her boomerang at Kanna. Hiraikotsu hit a barrier that was surrounding the girl and returned back to the demon exterminator, almost knocking her down. Miroku helped her keep her balance and Kouga hit a few smaller rocks that were flying toward the two humans. Kagura sighed in relief when she saw that they were alright and again looked at her 'sister'.

"And to think that weaklings like you killed Kagura." Kanna laughed with the baby's voice once again. "The more rocks you destroy the more shouki they will spill. Besides, you cannot harm me – my barrier is unbreakable."

Like the baby had said, there was already twenty centimeters of dark-purple fog at their feet. A heavy and repulsive smell was coming from the shouki that made everybody, even Kouga, became slightly dizzy. They knew that if they didn't get out of the cave fast, they were going to die. The problem was that the baby was going to throw more rocks and they couldn't avoid all of them. Kagura gritted her teeth – she didn't know about that. Obviously, Naraku hadn't left his heart protected only by her.

"We'll see that." Miroku said and took out from his robes about ten ofudas.

As if reading his mind, Sango held her Hiraikotsu in front of him. He started chanting something and threw an ofuda after ofuda at the large boomerang, while rocks started flying toward them again. Seeing what his two human friends intended to do, Kouga did his best to destroy the rocks before they hit them. However, the shouki became so thick that it was difficult to move, and it reached their waists.

Finally, Hiraikotsu was ready and Sango prepared to attack. The moment she had a clear shot, she threw the boomerang. This time, instead of being repulsed, it broke through the barrier. Kouga ran toward Kanna with his sword ready to strike. Suddenly, a long sharp vine shot out from the baby and headed toward the wolf demon. When he realized the danger, there was no way to escape anymore.

Then something really unexpected happened. In a blink of an eye, Kagura was in front of him, yelling to Miroku to use his Kazaana before the barrier was restored. She hadn't finished talking, when her eyes widened and her lips parted in a silent gasp, as the vine pierced through her. While Miroku opened his black hole and sucked in both Kanna and the baby, the vine was pulled out of the wind sorceress and she fell down on her knees.

Kouga stared at her in shock and couldn't believe his eyes. Kagura had saved him… He opened his mouth to say something but just couldn't. Sango made sure that Miroku was alright after sucking not only Kanna and the baby, but all the shouki too, and they both looked at the two demons. Kagura held her hands over the wound in her chest and looked up at Kouga.

"You won't get to fight me after all…" she said and smirked, a trickle of blood appearing at the left corner of her mouth. "I hope we are even now…" with that she coughed and collapsed on the ground.

"K-Kagura…" the wolf demon stammered and turned to his human friends. "I-Is she dead?"

"Probably," Miroku said thoughtfully and stepped closer to her, supported by Sango.

"But… I thought that as long as Naraku holds her heart…" the demon exterminator said, sounding like she wanted the wind sorceress to be alive.

"If he is fighting with Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kagome-sama, I don't think that Naraku would pay attention if Kagura was alive or not." the monk explained and it really made sense.

"So, there's still hope for her!" Kouga exclaimed, surprising Sango and Miroku and they nodded hesitantly. Didn't he want her dead? "Alright then, we're taking her with us."

TBC


	32. Chapter ThirtyTwo

Inuyasha pushed Kagome behind him and looked up. Sesshoumaru also looked up and prepared to attack. All the darkness that had been around them seemed to be a cloud that was flying up and was becoming thicker. It gathered in a small ball and after a few seconds a portal opened. Inuyasha growled and Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes as Naraku came out of the portal, followed by Hakudoshi and Kohaku.

"You finally found me, Inuyasha." Naraku said, amusement not hidden in his voice. "I shouldn't have given you that shouki crystal."

"Damned right, you bastard! I would've followed your stench everywhere!" the hanyou snarled and pointed his sword at his hated enemy. "Come down here and fight!"

"I don't see why you have brought that useless girl with you." Naraku said with a smirk, ignoring Inuyasha's insults and threats. "And you, Sesshoumaru-sama, what are you doing with a filthy hanyou like him?"

"Hanyou or not, he brought me to you." the dog demon said in his usual cold voice.

"Hey, Inuyasha is not filthy!" Kagome yelled angry, taking her bow from her back and prepared an arrow to shoot. "And I may be useless but I can tell who the filthy one is!" with that said she released her arrow. It flew right at Naraku but suddenly Hakudoshi was in its way and the arrow got repelled by the boy's barrier.

Taking advantage of the current distraction Kagome had made, Inuyasha jumped up as far as he could and unleashed a Kaze no Kizu at Naraku. Again, Hakudoshi stood in the way of the attack and Naraku's ominous laugh echoed in the large cave. Suddenly another blast was shot at his right side and Sesshoumaru jumped back down from the rock he had been standing, to get a better aim. This time the white-haired boy wasn't fast enough and the attack hit Naraku directly. Well, of course that he had a barrier too, this is no surprise.

Once again the hanyou, the dog demon and the human girl were side by side on the ground, waiting for their opponents' next move. When the smoke of their attacks cleared, Naraku's barrier was intact but Hakudoshi's was covered with big cracks. Kohaku, who was with Hakudoshi in his barrier stepped outside on a big rock. Obviously, Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu had been strong enough to weaken the white-haired boy's barrier so that it could protect only one person.

"What an unpleasant surprise, Inuyasha." Naraku said darkly. "You've learned to use my shouki crystal to become stronger. But that won't do you any good even if you manage to kill me, which in fact is not likely to happen…"

"What is he talking about?" Kagome whispered to the hanyou.

"That's none of your business." the cold voice he used to tell her that, made the dark-haired girl shiver and make a step away from him.

Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, Naraku's left arm extended into a pointed vine and shot toward the stunned girl. At the same time, Hakudoshi pointed his spear toward the two brothers and flew toward them. Not wasting time, Sesshoumaru jumped up and his sword met the white-haired boy's weapon. The dog demon got pushed and landed on a rock about ten meters from the ground. Hakudoshi attacked again.

Inuyasha saw what Naraku was up to and immediately leaped at the approaching vine. He tried to cut it with his sword but to his utter surprise, Tetsusaiga just went through it. At the same time a scream was heard and when the hanyou turned to see what was going on with Kagome, he saw the vine wrapping around her waist and lifting her in the air. Inuyasha landed and jumped again toward the girl he had sworn to protect.

Naraku's laugh echoed in the cave as Inuyasha wasn't able to reach Kagome and had to jump on a rock and then at him again. Seeing that the hanyou couldn't reach her, Kagome managed to pull out an arrow out of her quiver and shoot at Naraku. Luckily for her, he had underestimated her and hadn't raised his barrier. The arrow pierced his left arm, destroying it, but also causing her to start falling down.

Unfortunately, Inuyasha was too far up to be able to reach her in time and just started in shock from a rock, almost ten meters away from Naraku. Suddenly, a small figure shot from the other side of the cave and caught Kagome. When they landed on the ground, the one that was holding her was Kohaku. The boy then pulled out his weapon and stood in front of the girl, ready to defend her.

"How dare you betray me!" Naraku growled while his arm regenerated. "You will pay for this!" with that he held his right hand toward Kohaku and it glowed with purple light.

Kohaku gasped and his eyes widened as pain shot through his whole body. His back started glowing in light-pink light that slowly started to became tainted. The boy dropped his weapon and fell to his knees. Seeing that Naraku was trying to take control over Kohaku's mind, Inuyasha leaped at the evil hanyou. He tried to hit him with Tetsusaiga, but this time the barrier was there and he was pushed back.

Kagome glanced worriedly first at Kohaku, then at Sesshoumaru, who was still fighting with Hakudoshi, and then the loud sound of Inuyasha's attack caught her attention. Suddenly, an idea struck her and dropping her bow she ran to Kohaku. Looking his back closer she saw where the jewel shard that kept him alive was and without a second thought placed both her hands on that place. The boy cried in pain and Naraku's hand stopped glowing.

'Impossible!' he almost screamed in his mind but on the outside, the only thing that showed his shock were his slightly widened eyes.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed as the girl closed her eyes and slumped on the ground unconscious. Well, for Inuyasha's current state of mind, he was far from thinking that she was alright and jumped down, throwing his sword aside and practically forgetting everything around him except her.

Naraku quickly snapped out of his shock and decided to use the opportunity that Inuyasha's distraction gave him. He held his right hand toward the hanyou, who was currently kneeling beside the fallen girl, forming an energy blast. He didn't waste time and once the blue ball became large enough to satisfy him, he shot it toward the hanyou and his girl. Imagine his surprise when something white shot toward the blast and repelled it with its sword right back at him.

Sesshoumaru cursed his half brother for not paying attention to his enemy, while he landed next to him, after saving him from inevitable death. The blast that the dog demon repelled hit Naraku and being extremely powerful, managed to break though his barrier. While the evil hanyou regenerated his body, Hakudoshi attacked. It seemed that the condition his master was currently in affected the boy too and when Sesshoumaru's attack hit him, he suffered the same fate as Naraku.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha desperately shook the unmoving girl, completely loosing control over his emotions. "Kagome, open your eyes… Wake up… Kagome…"

"She is just unconscious, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru's voice didn't seem to reach him and the dog demon had to do something that under other circumstances would have disgusted him. "You won't bring her back if you sit here and cry. If you kill Naraku, I promise to bring her back, although she isn't dead…" he even placed a hand on the hanyou's left shoulder to get his attention.

"How very touching!" Naraku, who had managed to regenerate his head, laughed.

Hearing that hated laugh, Inuyasha seemed to snap out of his depression. He snarled and cursed himself and the shouki crystal for messing with his emotions like that. "I wasn't crying." he growled at his half brother and the dog demon simply rolled his eyes. Turning to look at the still kneeling boy not far away from him, Inuyasha grabbed his shoulder and shook him hard. "Kohaku, snap out of it."

The boy startled and turned toward Inuyasha, looking at him wide-eyed. "I-I… I'm…" he stammered, his whole body shaking. He looked at the unconscious girl in front of the hanyou and his eyes widened even more. "Is… Is s-she…"

"Kagome saved you." Inuyasha said getting up. "Now I want you to keep her safe. Okay?"

Kohaku nodded dumbly, as if not believing that the hanyou was actually ready to trust him enough to leave Kagome to his cares. On the other hand, Inuyasha had absolutely no intention on wasting time anymore. He was mad enough at himself for embarrassing himself in front of Sesshoumaru and for actually letting his half brother to cheer him up. A shudder ran down his spine – the next thing the dog demon would do was probably hug him… Naah, not likely!

As the two brothers stood facing Naraku and Hakudoshi who were still regenerating their bodies, suddenly their barriers pulsed and many ripples appeared on them. Not knowing what was happening, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru stood their ground and narrowed their eyes, waiting for whatever was going to happen. With their luck, Naraku was going to turn into a giant monster and eat them all.

'What is happening?' the evil hanyou thought as another pulse ran through his partly regenerated body. Pain shot through him and if he had arms he would have crushed them to his chest. 'My heart…' he hissed and looked at Hakudoshi, who was in a similar condition. 'I can't feel the baby…'

'Inuyasha's friends…' Naraku heard Hakudoshi's voice in his head. 'The baby…is dying…' the boy managed to say before a painful spasm in his chest made him grit his teeth.

Naraku looked at Inuyasha. The hanyou's eyes were wide with realization. Obviously he knew what was happening and wasn't going to wait long to attack. Due to the condition Naraku was currently in, there was no way for him to defend himself, even with a barrier. Hakudoshi was of no help, either. The boy was already so weak that if he tried to protect his master, the attack that either Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru would send, would destroy them both. So, Naraku made his decision.

As Inuyasha was about to jump at Naraku, a painful scream echoed in the cave. He and his half brother turned to look at the source of that scream but strong white light blinded them and they had to cover their eyes. When they were able to see again, Hakudoshi was no more. Only Naraku stood surrounded by his barrier, completely regenerated and smirking as if nothing had happened.

"I must admit that I underestimated you, Inuyasha." the evil hanyou said, the amused tome in his voice back. "I never thought that the connection we share was so strong."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" the enraged hanyou yelled pointing with his sword.

"Don't play dumb, Inuyasha." Naraku smirked again. "You knew where I hid the baby and sent your friends there, who obviously failed with their mission. Too bad I had to sacrifice Hakudoshi, though."

Listening to this pointless conversation, Sesshoumaru was getting more and more irritated. After all they were all here to fight, not talk. He gritted his teeth to keep himself from growling and raised his sword. A thick cloud formed around his legs and he jumped up toward Naraku. Inuyasha screamed for him to stop, but the arrogant dog demon wouldn't listen.

Meanwhile, Naraku's smirk grew wider. Sesshoumaru didn't even have the time to blink as he was suddenly engulfed by a dark cloud of shouki, which came from behind Naraku. The dog demon desperately tried to free himself. Even Inuyasha leaped at the quickly thickening cloud to try to help his half brother but it was already too late. Before the hanyou could reach the cloud, Naraku pulled it behind himself.

Inuyasha landed on a rock about twenty meters from the ground, and snarled at his enemy. "What did you do to him?" he yelled angry, when he saw the unconscious Sesshoumaru through the cloud of shouki.

"I am taking his energy." Naraku said, his smirk never leaving his lips. "Don't think of setting him free. As long as I use his energy if he gets out of that shouki cloud, he will die."

Inuyasha cursed mentally his stupid half brother and narrowed his eyes at Naraku, as if trying to see something through him. Then smirking, raised his sword and jumped at him. Surprised by the hanyou's sudden boldness, Naraku didn't do anything. Actually, he was so self-confident that he didn't consider that fact that there might be a slight disadvantage in his otherwise perfect plan.

Kagome was just waking up when she heard a loud battle cry. Her head immediately snapped up and she saw Inuyasha jump at Naraku and instead of breaking through the evil hanyou's barrier with Tetsusaiga, he did it with his bare hands. Seeing that she was awake, Kohaku was immediately by her side, helping her sit up and supporting her.

As Inuyasha broke through the barrier, his right hand was aimed at Naraku's chest. Even the big red eye there widened in shock, as well as Naraku's own eyes. Inuyasha growled loudly as he dug his claws in that red eye. Naraku gave out a loud piercing scream, as if many creatures were screaming at the same time, and a strong shock wave pushed Inuyasha back. The hanyou was thrown with such force that he made a small crater in the rocks he hit. Trying not to loose consciousness, Inuyasha fell forward and hit the hard floor with a pained groan.

TBC


	33. Chapter ThirtyThree

Seeing that Inuyasha wasn't moving, Kagome stood up stumbling a bit and despite Kohaku's protests, ran to the hanyou. She kneeled next to him and pushed him on his back. Her hands started shaking even more than before when he groaned and his face frowned in pain. His breathing was heavy and ragged. Kagome knew that something wasn't right – despite the crater that he had made when he crashed in the rocks, there was just no way he could feel that bad. He had been stabbed in the stomach so many times and he always got up.

She turned to look at Naraku, who to her utter surprise crashed on the ground too. But unlike Inuyasha, he obviously had more strength and managed to push himself up on his knees. He held his hands to his bleeding chest and stared directly at Kagome. Kohaku immediately knew what his 'master' was up to and stood in front of the girl and the hanyou to defend them.

"Kagome-chan, stay back." the boy warned, not turning to look at her. "Thank you for purifying my Shikon shard and freeing me from his control. Now I have to pay you back…" with that he ran toward Naraku.

Kagome screamed for Kohaku to stop, seeing the wide smirk that appeared on Naraku's lips, but the boy didn't listen. Just when Kohaku was in range to attack, the evil hanyou stood up, uncovering his chest. Before the dark-purple light blinded Kagome, she saw that in the center where that big red eye had been now could be seen the unfinished Shikon no Tama. When she was finally able to see, Naraku was standing next to Kohaku's unmoving body.

"I needed that shard." the evil hanyou said, smirking. "I see that my condition affects you greatly, Inuyasha." he snickered.

"Shut the fuck up." Inuyasha snarled, trying to get up and catching Kagome's attention. She looked at him confused, obviously by Naraku's words.

"Oh, I see." Naraku's smirk widened. "You don't want her to know just how much my shouki crystal affects you…"

Not letting him finish, Inuyasha pushed himself up and jumped at Naraku. He half expected his barrier to rise again and knock him out, but that never happened. He swung Tetsusaiga and Naraku had to avoid it, instead of block the sword with his 'indestructible' barrier. Although his body was fully regenerated after taking Kohaku's shard, the evil hanyou had lost one of his abilities.

That was very good for Kagome. Now she not only knew where she had to aim her arrows to be able to reveal the Shikon no Tama, but she didn't have to worry about the barrier. Well, of course she was angry with Inuyasha again. He hadn't told her that his connection with Naraku was so strong that the evil hanyou's injuries could affect him too.

But her anger could wait, right? Now they were alone in a fight with their greatest enemy and they just had no right to fail. Too many lives depended on that fight. If they loose, there was no one to stop Naraku. So, standing up and taking her bow, Kagome aimed at his chest where that big disgusting eye kept moving around and waited for a clear shot.

Inuyasha attacked again, but this time his opponent had something to block him. Naraku's right arm extended and formed a sword. It separated from his hand and he grabbed it. The two weapons met and the two opponents stood against one another, each one trying to push the other back. It seemed that they were even, and there couldn't be a winner. But then something happened that turned everything in Naraku's advantage.

From where the two swords were touching started to form a dark cloud that grew bigger and engulfed them both. Kagome was at a loss of words, she didn't have anyone to talk to, anyway. She started at the big round cloud, ready to shoot her arrow. Suddenly, something like electric impulses started to run around the cloud and someone was thrown out of it. Her eyes widened in shock and panic when she saw that it was Inuyasha.

The hanyou crashed in the rocks, dropping his sword and falling to the ground. Kagome screamed his name and ran to him. Just when she was about to reach him something wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. She screamed again but there was nobody to help her anymore. Naraku brought her close to him and turned her so she could face him. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw how scratched his face was. And the most shocking part was that he wasn't healing.

"Look what he did to me." the evil hanyou almost growled at her and she turned her head away. "I will make him pay. He will see you die."

The bone chilling tome of his voice was enough to make her cringe, but still, she refused to look at him, gritting her teeth. However, this enraged him even more. His left arm extended to a pointed vine, striking her in the left cheek and making her turn toward him. Blood ran down from the small wound, and she felt tears well up in her eyes. He brought her even closer, laughing cruelly.

"You will be screaming pretty soon too." he smirked and threw her on the ground.

Kagome hit the ground so hard that her air was knocked out of her. While she tied to catch her breath, Naraku stepped above her and kneeled next to her. His smile faded as he gripped a fistful of her dark hair to force her gaze upon him. She opened her slightly unfocused eyes and winced from the pain of being moved.

The same dark cloud engulfed them both and she could feel herself weaken even more. Suddenly, his grip on her loosened and she fell back to the ground, unable to move anymore, her eyes closing tightly in pain. But she managed to stay awake; she couldn't leave Inuyasha like that. She knew that he was still alive and she was determined to stay with him, no matter what.

Naraku stood up, deciding that she couldn't be a threat anymore, now that he had taken her energy too. He walked toward the fallen hanyou with a wide arrogant smirk on his lips. Just when he was a step away from his opponent, Inuyasha jumped up, grabbing his sword and thrusting it deeply in Naraku's stomach. To the hanyou's utter shock Tetsusaiga didn't transform. He jumped back, pulling it out of the stunned Naraku and it transformed.

Not wasting time in wondering about what had happened Inuyasha ran to Kagome. He pushed her on her back and she whimpered at the movement. "Hang on, Kagome." he whispered, bending down and kissing her lightly on the lips. "I'll get you out of here. You just hang on, ok?" seeing her nod slightly, he was up again, covering her with his haori.

By that time, Naraku had managed to snap out of his shock and confusion and had turned toward Inuyasha. "You better forget that sword." he said coldly. "It won't hurt me since we are connected."

"Not directly, bastard." the hanyou snarled and raised Tetsusaiga, ready to attack again. "You'll pay for what you did to Kagome." with that said, Inuyasha screamed 'die' and ran toward his enemy.

Naraku stood calmly on his place. In fact he was way too calm. He disappeared in an instant; just when Inuyasha brought his sword down, firing a Kaze no Kizu, reappearing behind him. His sword was back in his right hand and he stabbed Inuyasha through his back, the blade coming out from his stomach. The hanyou gasped but other than that, he didn't make any sound. Pulling his sword out of him, Naraku jumped back, smiling maliciously.

Inuyasha fell on his knees, supporting himself with Tetsusaiga. He cursed himself and Naraku of course and slowly stood up, turning to face the evil hanyou. Suddenly, many long purple wines shot from Naraku's back and flew toward Inuyasha. Some of them he managed to cut off, but others he couldn't and finally his legs, arms and waist were tightly wrapped in them. He couldn't move.

"What are you going to do now, hanyou?" Naraku asked coldly, stepping forward. "You cannot defeat me, haven't you realized that by now?"

"Keep saying that and you may begin to believe it." Inuyasha growled and another vine wrapped around his throat, effectively shutting him up.

Naraku squeezed the hanyou tighter and tighter, having the best time of his life. Until someone, he had obviously forgotten about, decided to step in the fight again. An arrow flew toward the evil hanyou, destroying most of the vines that held Inuyasha. Naraku's head snapped toward Kagome, just in time to see her fall down, too exhausted by that single shot she managed to make.

"Hah, stupid girl." Naraku laughed cruelly, his eyes narrowing.

But his smile faded when Inuyasha swung his sword, cutting most of the remaining vines. He screamed an insult and leaped for an attack, knocking the evil hanyou back a few steps. Naraku hit the ground hard, dodging another attack before able to recover from the first. Ripping some remaining vines from himself, leaving deep gashes where they had been on his body, Inuyasha stepped in front of his opponent with his sword over his shoulder.

"You ain't so tough, now are you?" the hanyou snickered, his eyes narrowed and flashing with something unreadable.

Kagome saw him step forward and heard his snicker. She shivered – that was not the Inuyasha she knew, he was different. And she knew that the reason for his behavior was the shouki crystal. The hanyou was using way too much his connection with Naraku, he was taking too much of his dark energy and that was affecting him in the worst possible way. Kagome just hoped that he didn't lose his mind in this fight.

"Inuyasha…" she whispered, seeing a vine creep toward his leg, but he didn't seem to hear her.

However, the hanyou had seen what Naraku was trying to do and was ready. He had already made his mind and waited for his enemy's next move. Suddenly, that vine shot toward Inuyasha, piercing his right shoulder, but he didn't drop Tetsusaiga. He didn't make even a sound, as more vines came from Naraku's back wrapping around him tightly. He just made a few steps back, gritting his teeth as pain shot through his whole body.

"Now I got you." Naraku snarled, outstretching a hand with an immediate pulse of power, making the hanyou fly further back.

Inuyasha grabbed on the vine in his shoulder and closed his eyes tightly. Trying to pull it out, he could not suppress the scream – it just hurt too much. With the shouki crystal, he had managed to keep the pain under control, borrowing some of Naraku's energy, but now as the evil hanyou was weakened he couldn't get enough energy. The pain was nothing he had ever felt before, leaving him panting and falling back against the rocks.

'Fight!' he screamed in his mind, as another vine attached to his neck, his own blood flying in every direction. 'Fight it! Just… a little… longer…' his mind insisted.

Kagome wasn't trying to scream Inuyasha's name anymore. She was crying now, trying with her last strength to move toward him and help him, no matter how. She pushed herself onto all fours, crawling to his aid. He screamed again, as Naraku's sword turned into a spear and the evil hanyou stabbed him in the stomach, where his previous wound was. More tears ran down Kagome's cheeks. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned sharply to see who was touching her.

"Kikyou!" her voice was just barely above a whisper.

"Don't interfere." the Miko said firmly but Kagome didn't listen. "You will only get killed. Do you think Inuyasha wants that?" she asked and this made the dark-haired girl stop her attempts to escape from the strong grip on her shoulder.

Inuyasha was growling, his eyes flashing red. As he lifted Tetsusaiga, the sword changed as if he was going to fire a Kongousouha. His left hand wrapped around the spear and he pulled it deeper into his stomach, making Naraku to come closer. The evil hanyou was surprised from such a reaction from his opponent and just didn't know what to expect anymore.

"Weak hanyou!" Naraku stepped back in shock, not thinking of releasing the spear. "This ends now!" he yelled, his eyes narrowing dangerously, as he seemed to glow in dark-purple light.

"Damn right, it does!" Inuyasha snarled, driving the spear completely through to get within reach. He raised Tetsusaiga and the sword seemed to glow in unison with the evil hanyou as it pierced his chest.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth, twisting the sword's blade. Naraku's eyes widened in shock, as pain shot through his whole body. His scream echoed in the cave and the purple light seemed to burst out of him, engulfing both him and Inuyasha. The Shikon no Tama burst out of him and fell in front of Kagome and Kikyou. A second later another piercing scream was heard and the purple light was replaced with light-bluish. It was so strong that Kagome and Kikyou had to cover their eyes.

When the light was gone and they opened their eyes, Naraku was gone. Only Inuyasha stood there with Tetsusaiga in his right hand. The sword was glowing in the same bluish light and the hanyou's eyes seemed kind of glazed and unfocused. There weren't any vines on him anymore, but his clothes were a complete mess and his whole body was covered in blood and wounds. Suddenly, he crumbled to his knees and with that Tetsusaiga broke into millions of small pieces.

Just now Kikyou let go of Kagome's shoulder. The girl immediately jumped up on her feet and ran to Inuyasha. She managed to catch him before he fell forward and with that her strength seemed to fade away. She sat back onto her knees, helping him lie on his back. She shook him gently and his eyes seemed to focus on her.

"Inuyasha…" she whispered shakily. "You…alright?"

"Stupid question…" he breathed painfully and coughed some blood.

Kagome wiped the blood with her sleeve and gently moved some strands of his hair away from his face. Kikyou took the Shikon no Tama and placed it in her sleeve, then she walked to the hanyou and the girl next to him. A dull thud was heard when Sesshoumaru was released from the dark cloud and fell on the ground. Inuyasha chuckled weakly and earned himself a glare from the frustrated dog demon.

Sesshoumaru walked toward his half brother and stood next to Kikyou. A strange feeling made Kagome's chest tighten and she furrowed her brows in confusion. Why weren't Kikyou and Sesshoumaru saying anything? She turned toward them and her eyes widened when she saw the Miko's sad eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked, turning to look at Inuyasha again.

He smiled weakly and raised his left hand to her right cheek. "Nothing's wrong…" he said and coughed again, a strange purple glow appearing in his chest.

"The shouki crystal is killing him." Sesshoumaru's clod voice made Kagome shiver.

"No…" she shook her head. "You are going to save him." she ordered and to her surprise, the dog demon nodded.

Inuyasha was feeling drowsy. Somehow that was fine with him – it kind of dulled the pain. He watched Kagome with half lidded eyes. She was frowning, she had tears in her eyes – he didn't like that. He liked it when she was smiling. He knew what was going to happen, so he wanted to see her smile again. But he couldn't make his voice come out. He had to see her smile one last time.

"Why are you crying?" he finally asked weakly, almost too quiet to hear.

"I'm not crying, idiot." she said shakily, and then turned to Sesshoumaru. "Come on!" she urged him.

The dog demon drew Tenseiga out and stepped closer to his half brother. He narrowed his eyes trying to see the messengers of Hell. He couldn't. "What is the meaning of this?" Sesshomaru growled, startling Kagome.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly.

"I don't see the messengers of Hell." he said incredulously.

"That means his soul is no longer here." Kikyou said with her usual calm voice.

"But he's still alive!" Kagome cried turning to look at the hanyou.

"Now you're crying." he remarked dreamily, pointing a weak hand at her face.

At this, Kagome just couldn't stop her tears anymore. She answered something that he couldn't make out and his vision became even foggier. She sounded desperate – he didn't like that. She would never want to smile if she was that sad. He had to do something but he felt so tired and sleepy and couldn't hold his eyes open… He heard voices, telling him to wake up, white spots danced in front of his eyes. He knew it would soon be over.

"Smile for me one last time…" he mumbled before his head rolled to the side and his eyes finally lost focus.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome swallowed reaching with a shaky hand to turn his head toward her again. "No, Inuy-asha…" her voice cracked when she saw that he wasn't breathing.

Slowly, his body became transparent. Kagome screamed something that even she couldn't make out and he faded completely. Then she froze – she just couldn't accept this. But Inuyasha was gone and she saw it. The cave started shaking, rocks started falling and they had to get out, but Kagome just stood there unmoving. Sesshoumaru cursed and shook her hard. Instead of snapping out of her trance, Kagome lost consciousness.

"Stupid girl." the dog demon growled and picking her up, ran toward the door along with Kikyou, who had taken Kohaku's body with her.

TBC


	34. Chapter ThirtyFour

Kagome was slowly coming back to consciousness. She could feel something warm and soft in her arms, she clutched it tightly. Then, she heard a fain sound from somewhere near her – someone was crying. It sounded like Shippo. The girl felt anger rise in her and she gritted her teeth, ready to start yelling.

'That idiot, Inuyasha!' she growled in her mind, fighting with her own body to make herself open her eyes. 'He must've hit Shippo-chan really hard this time!'

"Stop whining!" she heard Jaken's voice and mentally frowned. "You can't bring him back. Your hanyou is gone."

'Gone…' Kagome thought, trying to figure out what the ever annoying green demon meant. 'Gone? Inuyasha? Where?' her eyes slowly opened and she saw what she was holding so close to herself. 'Inuyasha's haori… Blood?!' suddenly everything fit into place and she remembered.

Everything that had happened came crashing down on her so hard and painfully that she gave out a loud horrified scream. Jumping up from her lying position, startling everybody in the small hut she was in, Kagome threw the bloody haori away from her and found herself hugging her knees to her chest in the nearest corner she managed to get to.

"No, no, no…" she kept repeating, staring blankly at the abandoned cloth. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she shook her head, refusing to believe her own memories. She heard Sango's voice calling her name and the moment the demon exterminator was within her reach, she threw her arms around her friend's waist and cried harder.

Everybody looked at the two girls sadly. Sesshoumaru, who was by the door, sighed and looked away. He was a little disturbed by the large amount of feelings that humans could display, especially sadness, and with great effort he managed to admit to himself that it was starting to affect him too. He had never thought that he would regret it if his brother died. He didn't even use that 'half' anymore.

There was something else that bothered him too. He had thought about it on their way back from the mountain. No matter how hard it was for him to admit something like that, the dog demon now felt respect for that hanyou. He had even been ready to bring Inuyasha back, despite the sarcastic remarks he would have gotten later from him.

"Calm down, Kagome-chan, please." Sango tried to comfort her friend, although she also had tears in her eyes. "Think about what Inuyasha would have said if he was here."

Kagome cried for a little longer, but gradually relaxed. She pulled away from the demon exterminator and whipped her tears. "He would have panicked and then stuttered something about me being stupid for crying." The girl said sadly, looking at the floor. "That idiot…" she muttered and took a deep shaky breath.

Suddenly, something strange caught Kagome's attention and she looked up. There, by the door, was sitting Kagura and a little aside from her, next to Miroku, was Kohaku. They were perfectly well and alive. Her shock was explainable. She had thought that with Naraku dead, Kagura would have died too, and for Kohaku…

Obviously Sesshoumaru had seen her confused expression and cleared his throat. "I brought them back to life." he said in his usual even voice.

"But you couldn't save Inuyasha." Kagome whispered, turning her eyes back to the floor.

"I am truly sorry about that." the dog demon surprised her and the others by saying such thing, but nobody felt like making remarks or something like that. After all, they weren't a certain hanyou who loved to irritate people or demons, in this case. "Jaken, Rin, we are leaving." with that he turned and walked away.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken ran after his master.

"Bye, everybody." the usually cheerful girl said in a sad voice and also followed the dog demon outside.

After a second Kagura stood up and walked to Kagome. The girl looked at her slightly confused, as she kneeled down in front of her. Then she bowed. "This is for Inuyasha." she said and getting up, walked outside. The sudden strong wind that blew outside of the hut was a signal that the wind sorceress was gone.

Now, the only ones left in the hut were Kaede, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kohaku, Kirara and Kikyou, who was still by the door. Kagome looked at every one of them, as if searching for someone. "Where is Kouga-kun?" she asked shakily, fearing that something bad might have happened to him.

"He's outside." Miroku said calmly. "He said that he'll wait until you feel better."

Shippo hiccupped, getting everybody's attention, and walked toward Kagome, dragging Inuyasha's haori with him. The girl felt tears well up in her eyes again, but this time she managed to stop them from falling. She held her arms open for the small kitsune and he jumped at her, burring his face in her stomach.

The sun was setting. The people and demons in the small hut were having dinner, all except Kikyou and Kagome. It was obvious that none of them was hungry, but they just didn't have anything else to do. Kagome was sitting a little aside with Inuyasha's haori spread over her lap. She was still fighting with her tears, only sniffling from time to time. She was sure that Inuyasha was watching her from somewhere, hell or heaven – it didn't matter, and she didn't want to upset him.

Kikyou, who was sitting by the door, looked at her reincarnation and sighed. "Go talk to Kouga." she suddenly said and Kagome snapped her head up.

Without saying even a word, she stood up and walked outside, never letting go of the haori. As she had been said earlier, the wolf demon was outside, sitting under a tree next to the hut. He looked at her sadly and she walked to him and sat next to him. They stayed in silence for a long time, neither of them able to find the right words to say.

"What are you going to do now?" Kouga finally asked.

"I don't know." Kagome shook her head slightly. "I'll just go home and…" she found it too hard to continue and clasped her hands over her mouth to keep a sob from escaping.

"Kagome…" the wolf demon sighed and wrapping his left arm around her shoulders, pulled her closer to him.

Again silence fell between them. And again the one to break it was Kouga, when Kagome calmed down a little and pulled away. "Here, take it." he said, handing her his Shikon shard. The girl looked at him slightly wide-eyed. "I don't need it anymore."

"Are you sure?" she asked and he simply nodded.

"We are friends, aren't we, Kagome?" the wolf demon asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course we are!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Okay." he smiled at her. "Don't forget me, 'cause I won't forget you either." with that said, he leaned to kiss her right cheek and ran off toward the forest.

Kagome sat under the tree, watching the cloud of dust that followed Kouga, until it disappeared in the forest. The sound of footsteps made her look toward the hut and she saw Kikyou walking toward her. The undead Miko had her usual calm look as she came to her reincarnation and sat next to her. Without saying anything, Kagome handed her Kouga's Shikon shard. Kikyou accepted it and took out of her left sleeve the almost completed Shikon no Tama. She merged the two pieces and put the jewel on the ground.

"I don't want it." Kagome said coldly.

"Yes, you do." Kikyou stated, obviously not bothered by the tone the other girl used. "Make your wish."

Kagome bit her bottom lip, glancing from the corner of her eyes toward the Miko next to her. Seeing that she still had her calm and unbothered expression, Kagome took the jewel in both her hands and made her wish. Then, she waited. Kikyou waited with her. Nothing happened. Tears started to fall from Kagome's eyes. Why wasn't her wish coming true?

"It's not working, is it?" Kikyou stated the obvious and sighed.

"Why isn't he coming back?" Kagome cried, clutching the jewel tighter. "Why?"

"The Shikon no Tama can't bring the dead back to life." the Miko explained as calm as ever. "Besides, Inuyasha had his fate."

"What fate?" Kagome snapped her head toward Kikyou.

The undead Miko just smiled, which confused her reincarnation even more. Then she stood up and kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in hers. "Our journey is over, Kagome." she said, the smile still on her lips. "Eventually, I will have my 500 years with Inuyasha, but you have to go back to your time."

"What do you mean, you'll have…" Kagome started in confusion and in frustration for not understanding what the Miko meant.

"I will return to you, I will give you back the rest of your soul." Kikyou interrupted the girl in front of her. "Take the Shikon no Tama and go home. Since Inuyasha is no longer here, once you go through the well, there is no turning back."

"But, I…" Kagome started shakily and this time was left to continue. "I don't want to leave Sango-chan and Miroku-sama and Shippo-chan and…" again words failed her and she hiccupped.

"If you truly love them, they will always be with you." Kikyou said and the crying girl slowly nodded.

"Alright, but I'll give them the Shikon no Tama." Kagome's voice became somewhat firm at that.

"No." Kikyou shook her head. "You will need it when you go home."

"I don't understand." Kagome looked confused.

"You will." the Miko smiled and pulled her reincarnation into a tight embrace. They both started glowing and after a second, Kikyou's soul was absorbed by Kagome, leaving only her clothes on the ground.

The others had come out of the hut and had seen everything. Kaede was obviously upset, but her warm reassuring smile calmed Kagome. She stood up and walked toward her friends. She hugged them one by one, taking her time to calm down the wailing Shippo. The small kitsune knew that she didn't belong in this world and that she had to go home, but he still didn't want to let her go.

"Take care, Kagome-sama." Miroku smiled at her.

"Don't forget us." Sango added.

"I won't." Kagome smiled too. "I love you all too much." with that said, she gave Shippo to the demon exterminator and ran off in the direction of the well.

A whole month had passed since Kagome's last return from the past. Only her family knew what had happened in the final battle. She hadn't told her friends, that her two-timing boyfriend was dead. They asked about him from time to time, wanted to see him again and talk to him some sense, but every time Kagome just stood up and left them. Finally, they stopped, thinking that he had done something really terrible this time. Maybe ran off with the other girl?

Anyway, it was a warm sunny day. Wanting to look like she was gradually getting better from her illnesses, Kagome has skipped school today. She sat under the God Tree with Inuyasha's haori spread over her lap. Her eyes were closed, a warm smile on her lips. Whatever she was thinking, it seemed to be really good. Well, of course she was thinking about Inuyasha. Who else? Ever since she had come back, that was all she could think about.

"Be quiet, idiot." she heard someone's voice. It sounded slightly familiar.

"Don't provoke me!" another man's voice yelled. He sounded familiar too and really pissed off, now that Kagome thought about it. "I lost a whole month because of that rehabilitation!"

"Calm down." the other man said calmly, obviously completely unshaken by the outbursts of his companion. "Your human body is just too weak."

"Oh, yeah?!" the pissed off one was now simply enraged. "Drop dead, fluffy!"

Suddenly, Kagome's eyes snapped open and she straightened up. Those voices – she knew who the men were. And when she looked toward the stairs she saw them. The first man was taller than the other one; he was clad in a black suit. His long white hair, his face, his golden eyes, his look! She felt weak in the knees and leaned back to support herself on the God Tree. That man looked just like Sesshoumaru, except that he didn't have the purple stripes on his cheeks and the blue moon on his forehead.

"Hey, is she okay?" the other man asked, glancing nervously at his friend.

That voice… Kagome almost passed out. That other man had long black hair, pulled back in a loose tail, dark eyes; he was clad in a red t-shirt and slightly baggy dark-blue jeans. He looked at her in concern and moving closer to her, said her name. The way he said it, the way he looked at her… She couldn't take it anymore – she was either dreaming or insane. With one chocked intake of breath, Kagome collapsed on the ground, loosing consciousness.

TBC


	35. Chapter ThirtyFive

Kagome woke up to the sound of people speaking, but didn't make a sign to be awake. Even without opening her eyes, she quickly recognized her bed and calmed down a little. She heard her mother, Souta, her grandfather and then… The two men's voices again… So, she hadn't dreamed and if her family could see them and talk to them, that meant that she actually may not be insane. But she sure was freaked out and confused beyond belief.

"Don't get me wrong, dear." Mrs. Higurashi's voice was heard. "I am glad that you are alright but will you tell us what happened?"

"Do I have to? I don't wanna start all over again when Kagome wakes up." the dark-haired man's voice answered somewhat irritated.

A loud slap was heard and Souta laughed. "Do what you are told." the other man's firm voice ordered.

"Damn it, Sesshoumaru!" the dark-haired man almost yelled. "Stop hitting me! How do you expect me to go to college if I don't have a single brain cell left?"

"Humph." the man – Sesshoumaru, snorted. "Who said you even have a brain?"

Souta laughed again and Mrs. Higurashi tried to calm them down. Kagome lay stiffly in her bed, not sure what to think. Sesshoumaru?! Sesshoumaru! This couldn't be just a coincidence. But it was too strange and the poor confused girl was at a loss of thoughts. She remained unmoving on her bed, waiting for the dark-haired man to explain. Not that she could have done anything else in her current state, anyway.

"Well, you know that I died in the final battle with Naraku." he started calmly now. "I didn't come back from the dead if that's what you're thinking." he laughed. "Before returning to Kagome's soul Kikyou told Kaede that I will be reincarnated after 500 years. All our friends from Sengoku Jidai turn out to be my relatives. I don't know who married who… Sesshoumaru won't tell me…" Kagome heard rustling as if someone was moving away from her bed. "I guess he's embarrassed for having humans and hanyous in his family…" another loud slap was heard and Sesshoumaru growled something.

"There is something I don't understand, though." Kagome's grandfather finally decided to say something. "How is it possible that you remember your past life? Kagome doesn't remember being this Kikyou."

'Yeah, I was wondering about that too.' the girl on the bed thought, fighting the urge to frown in confusion.

"Well, at first I didn't remember anything, but I did feel kind of strange all the time." he started again. "You see, I was born in the exact date and hour like in my past life, at least that's what Sesshoumaru says. So, they knew it was me and named me Inuyasha. Every time I heard that name I got dizzy and sometimes I even had visions. I've always had that pain in my chest, but one day it just got stronger and I passed out. I woke up pinned to the tree in Sengoku Jidai. I didn't remember anything about my future life then, but now I do." he finished with a heavy sigh.

"But during the year since you were released from the sealing spell…" the old man sounded confused once again. "What happened to you here?"

"I was in coma." Inuyasha said with another sigh.

He sounded tired and miserable, now that Kagome thought about it better. Obviously, her mother had noticed that too. She urged everybody to go downstairs and have some tea. Just when Kagome was about to open her eyes, she heard Sesshomaru say that he would be down in a minute. Then she felt the bed dip a little as someone sat next to her. Gentle fingers brushed her left cheek, removing a strand of hair from her face.

"I'm an idiot." she almost jumped when she heard Inuyasha's voice, sounding so sad all of a sudden.

"Yes you are." Sesshoumaru agreed and he just 'feh'ed.

"What if she doesn't want to see me? What if she got over me?" Inuyasha sounded worried and nervous now. She felt his hand against her cheek tremble slightly.

"Calm down before you get another fit." Sesshoumaru said a little irritated.

"You make it sound like a disease." Inuyasha said darkly. "Don't forget it's the blood I have from you that makes me go wild from time to time."

"Whatever, idiot. She's awake." Sesshoumaru simply said and walked out, closing the door behind him.

Kagome felt the hand on her cheek go stiff and heard him gulp, but still didn't open her eyes. Slowly, he moved his hand away from her and got up from her bed. She opened her eyes just a little and saw him sitting on her chair, next to the bed. His eyes were slightly wide and nervous. She opened her eyes all the way and slowly sat up, leaning her back on the wall and bringing her knees to her chest to hug them.

"You… You ok?" Inuyasha asked hesitantly. "I-I… I didn't want to s-scare you." Kagome didn't give any reaction to his words at all. "You heard what I said?" again no reaction. "Crap, I knew this was gonna happen." he held his head in his hands and put his elbows on his knees for support.

Kagome watched him carefully. She really wanted to believe in what he had said, but somehow all that she's been through during the past year, made her more cautious. How could she prove to herself that he was really Inuyasha? He sure looked like him in his human form, his voice was the same… She thought of asking him something that only Inuyasha and she knew, but what?

"Hey," she said rather loudly and he snapped his head up to look at her with wide concerned eyes. Kagome mentally smacked herself for startling him like that. "W-When… When I-Inuyasha died… Before h-he… died… What did he ask me…to do?"

The black haired man, that now looked more like a lost boy to her, stared at her in surprise. 'Ha!' she thought and despite that moment of triumph, she felt tears in her eyes. So, he wasn't…

"I wanted to see your smile again." he simply said, his eyes softening.

Kagome's lips parted in a silent gasp, her eyes widening. "Inuyasha," she whispered and he nodded, a rather silly grin appearing on his face. "It is really you!" she cried and he stood up when he saw her jump at him, wrapping her arms around him and burring her face in his chest.

He held his arms around her tightly and took a shuddering breath. "I missed you so much." he said and the girl in his embrace cried harder, her whole body shaking.

Suddenly, there was a sharp sound and something cut the back of Kagome's shirt. The couple startled and pulled away from one another. Inuyasha looked at his right hand and saw that instead of a human nail, he had a claw on his forefinger. He shook his hand and the other nails also turned into claws. Kagome was staring at him in shock all the time.

"I'm a little unstable when I get excited." he laughed nervously, his eyes flashing gold for a second. "Since I'm a reincarnation and practically have some of my own blood… Sorry 'bout the shirt."

Then, before Kagome could say anything, having smelled the change in Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru burst through the door. It was pure luck that it remained in one piece. He seemed almost ready to attack, but stopped himself at the last moment. "I told you to calm down, didn't I?" he said irritated.

"What would happen if he gets too excited?" Kagome suddenly asked.

"He turns into his hanyou form, but his state of mind is the same as if he's in his full demon form." Sesshoumaru explained, leaning on the doorframe.

"Will you, um, leave us alone for a moment?" Kagome asked and as the dog demon raised a brow in amusement, both she and Inuyasha blushed at once.

"Just go, will ya?!" Inuyasha almost yelled.

When Sesshoumaru was out, Kagome slipped her right hand under her shirt. Inuyasha made a startled step back and bumped in the chair, almost falling down. Trying hard to ignore him and his spluttering, Kagome pulled out a pink jewel and this time Inuyasha really screamed and fell on the floor.

"The Shikon no Tama!" he exclaimed, getting up on his feet again.

"Kikyou made me take it." Kagome said, still blushing slightly. "I guess she knew…"

"Yeah." Inuyasha nodded sadly.

"You take it." the girl held her hands to him. "That's what you wanted after all, isn't it?"

He looked at her as if she had suddenly become possessed, before having a way too familiar outburst. "Honestly, Kagome! I never thought you'd become stupider than you already was." Inuyasha exclaimed and successfully made the girl in front of him angry. But then, seeing him slightly blushing confused her. "I don't what the stupid jewel… I-I want you! I love you and…" suddenly his eyes turned gold and his claws lengthened. He growled, seeming to loose coherent thought and gripped his head, making a few steps back until he hit the desk.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped loudly and looked around for something that could help her, even she didn't know what. Them she looked down at her hands and an idea struck her. She snapped her head up toward Inuyasha and clutched the Shikon no Tama close to her chest.

Kagome closed her eyes and as she made her wish, the jewel started glowing. Sesshoumaru burst through the door again, but seeing what was going on, stayed still. Inuyasha transformed fully into his hanyou form and fell down to his knees, breathing heavy. The jewel in Kagome's hands turned into shiny dust and faded away.

"Great, more camouflage spells." Sesshoumaru snorted, looking at Inuyasha's dog ears, then turned and left.

Kagome made a hesitant step toward the hanyou. "Hey, Inuyasha… You ok?" she asked quietly and startled, jumping back on her bed, when he snapped his head up.

"I'm a hanyou…" he said looking at his hands, then taking some of his white hair in front of his face. "I'm a hanyou!" he exclaimed, putting his hands over his ears. "I never thought I'd be happy to be a hanyou again!" he looked at Kagome, grinning widely.

"Yeah, yeah…" she shook her head and keeled in front of him. "I should've wished for a rosary." he gave her a slightly hurt look, missing the joke entirely, and she smiled widely, ruffling his hair.

"Hey!" Inuyasha protested, taking her hand. "I'm not a…"

"I love you too." she said and before he could react, pressed her lips to his.

"Mhmm…" was all he could manage, as he pulled her closer and leaned into the kiss, deepening it.

THE END


End file.
